Saturna Island: the bylaw audit

25 findings: 1 in bylaws not yet adopted, 24 in bylaws in force. Read on 2026-09-19. Every quotation is a link to the words themselves.

The bylaws, and where each one stands

  • Bylaw 143 (in force). The Minor Housing Amendments Review: a new Schedule E map that lets 61 more properties have a secondary suite, rainwater changed to freshwater with a definition, and the minimum cistern cut from 21,820 to 18,000 litres. No public hearing was held; notice of first reading was given instead. First, second and third reading on 29 January 2026; approved by the Executive Committee at its 25 February 2026 meeting; adopted on 30 April 2026. The consolidation of 27 May 2026 carries it.
  • Bylaw 146 (not yet adopted). Draft Saturna Island Land Use Bylaw No. 119, 2018, Amendment No. 1, 2026: thirty days' notice before entry onto a property under bylaw investigation, with a matching change to Bylaw Infractions Investigations Bylaw No. 30. Directed on 30 April 2026; sent for referral on 3 July 2026; on the 28 September 2026 agenda. No reading yet. The committee directed that it be considered by resolution without a meeting. Needs the Executive Committee. The draft text is not in the Trust's index.
  • Saturna Island Land Use Bylaw No. 119 (in force). In force, as amended by Bylaw 143. The Trust's consolidation is dated 27 May 2026.
  • Saturna Island Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 70 (in force). In force. Consolidated to Bylaw 140 and dated 23 August 2024 in the index. On 30 April 2026 the committee put a review of multiple family zoning and policies on its future projects list. Rezoning application SA-PL-RZ-2026-0201 is on the 28 September 2026 agenda; no bylaw number yet.
  • Bylaw 144 (in force). Repeals Meeting Procedure Bylaw No. 135. Adopted 29 January 2026.

Correspondence Tony Aly reported sending

Tony confirmed sending the following letter on 3 October 2026. The text shown is the version we supplied for sending, with URLs written out for plain-text email. We have not independently verified the exact transmitted copy or received a response to this letter.

Saturna draft Bylaw 146 – make the property-entry notice amendment match the law

Reported sent:
To: southinfo@islandstrust.bc.ca

Read the prepared letter
Dear Saturna Island Local Trust Committee,

Please confirm the current stage and publish the current text of draft Bylaw 146. The resolution asking staff to replace “24hrs notice” in Land Use Bylaw 119 refers to words that are not in that bylaw. The current provision says “24 hours prior notification” to the occupier, while the January 29 committee resolution calls for a replacement referring to a respondent; the current proposed bylaw text still needs confirmation. Those are different people and different words. The audit cites the resolution and operative section (https://abolishislandstrust.org/bylaw-audit/saturna).

Please put the precise subsection and words to be amended in the draft, and specify who receives thirty days' notice. Please also explain how that notice period interacts with the related investigations bylaw. A longer notice period should be written so residents and officers can understand it.

Sincerely,
Tony Aly

A letter you can send

Bylaw 146 was a draft in the September 2026 record and appeared on the September 28 agenda. Confirm the committee's decision and current text before treating it as pending.

To: the Saturna Island Local Trust Committee
Subject: Saturna draft Bylaw No. 146: identify the property-entry notice provision

To the Saturna Island Local Trust Committee,

I am writing about Saturna draft Bylaw 146 and ask for the current text and stage. [Say here whether you own, rent or live on Saturna Island, and where.]

These are the points that concern me:

- The resolution behind draft Bylaw 146 replaces the words 24hrs notice in Land Use Bylaw 119, and the bylaw does not contain those words.

The words of the bylaw behind each point are quoted, with a link to the place they can be read, at https://abolishislandstrust.org/bylaw-audit/saturna

Please name the exact section and words being amended. The resolution refers to words that are not in Land Use Bylaw 119 and changes the notice recipient from occupier to respondent. Please make the thirty-day notice rule unambiguous and explain its interaction with the investigations bylaw.

Yours respectfully,
[Your name]
[Your address on Saturna Island, or your interest in the trust area]

Open an email to southinfo@islandstrust.bc.ca

Change anything you do not agree with, and say who you are and where you live or own land. A few sentences in your own words are worth more than ours.

In bylaws not yet adopted

These can still be fixed.

A reference that lands on the wrong subject · in a bylaw not yet adopted

The resolution behind draft Bylaw 146 replaces the words 24hrs notice in Land Use Bylaw 119, and the bylaw does not contain those words.

On 29 January 2026 the committee resolved that in Bylaw No. 119 it replaces 24hrs notice with a thirty day notice to the respondent. Subsection 1.4.1, the entry power, says 24 hours prior notification to the occupier. The words to be replaced are not in the bylaw, and the new words speak of a respondent where the bylaw speaks of the occupier. A resolution cannot amend a bylaw, and on 30 April 2026 the committee directed staff to draft an amending bylaw to be considered by a resolution without a meeting. That draft is Bylaw 146, sent for referral on 3 July 2026 and listed on the 28 September 2026 agenda. Its text is not in any document in the Trust's index, so we could not check whether it repeats the mismatch.

In bylaws in force

Something left out · in a bylaw in force

The plan names five overlay designations and says Section E holds their policies; Part E covers two of them

Section D.0 says the overlay designations are Open Space, Heritage, Agricultural Land Reserve, Forest Land Reserve and Pacific Marine Heritage Legacy lands, and that Section E identifies the areas where supplemental policies apply. The plan has a Part E, not a Section E. Its sections are Open Space, Heritage, shale and gravel, special hazards and climate change. There are no overlay policies for the Agricultural Land Reserve, the Forest Land Reserve or the Pacific Marine Heritage Legacy lands.

  • “Overlay designations in Section E, identify special areas where supplemental policies apply. The Overlay designations are Open Space, Heritage, Agricultural Land Reserve, Forest Land Reserve and Pacific Marine Heritage Legacy lands.”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 70, s. D.0

  • “E.3 SHALE, SANDSTONE, SAND AND GRAVEL RESOURCES”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 70, s. E.3

  • “E.4 SPECIAL HAZARDS TO THE ENVIRONMENT”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 70, s. E.4

  • “E.5 CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 70, s. E.5

Something left out · in a bylaw in force

Plan sentences with words missing: a water licence to be obtained from nobody, a buffer policy with no verb

Vacation rental guideline H.1.12 k) requires that a water licence for commercial use is to be obtained from prior to commencing the use; the name of the body is missing. Policy C.2.6 is not a sentence: it names undisturbed buffers around nests and says nothing about them. The heading of D.7.2 says Rural of Forest. D.5.5 letters its opening sentence a) and its two exceptions b) and c). Policy D.1.G.6 calls D.1.G.5 an Article, a word the plan uses nowhere else.

  • “require that a water licence for commercial use is to be obtained from prior to commencing the use”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 70, s. H.1(12)

  • “C.2.6 Undisturbed buffers around the nesting area of any golden eagle, bald eagle, osprey, peregrine falcon, hawks, owl, or great blue heron.”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 70, s. C.2(6)

  • “D.7.2 Watershed together with Rural of Forest Designations”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 70, s. D.7(2)

  • “a) The maximum number of lots that can be created shall equal the acreage of the lot designated Heritage Forest divided by fifty (50) except where: b) a restrictive covenant”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 70, s. D.5(5)

Two rules that cannot both be obeyed · in a bylaw in force

The RG(g) site-specific rule sets an average lot area of at least 7 hectares (1.78 acres). Seven hectares is about 17.3 acres, and 1.78 acres is about 0.72 hectares.

The two figures in rule (10) for RG(g), Lot 1, Section 5, Plan 25360, differ by a factor of ten. The Trust's PDF prints them this way (page 21, looked at as an image). Subsection 1.6.1 says metric dimensions are the ones used and imperial figures are for convenience only, so as printed the rule is a 7 hectare average. If 0.72 hectares was meant, the owner is held to a rule about ten times stricter than intended. A script checked 172 metric and imperial pairs in the bylaw and this is the only one that is off by more than 4 percent. The margin note beside the row is BL 141, the amending bylaw adopted on 2 August 2024.

Two rules that cannot both be obeyed · in a bylaw in force

The Community Park side setback prints two wordings of the same sentence on top of each other

Subsection 4.8.5 reads as if an old wording and a new wording were both kept: closer than a distance of within, measured from of any, measured from to the farthest projection, closer than sited within, from of an. The Trust's PDF prints it this way with no strike-out (page 26 of the PDF, printed page 20). The numbers can be guessed at, but the sentence cannot be read as a rule about where the distance is measured from.

  • “shall be sited closer than a distance of within 6.1 metres (20 ft.) measured from of any interior side lot line measured from to the farthest projection of the building, nor, closer than sited within 7.6 metres (25 ft.) from of an exterior side lot line.”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 119, s. 4.8(5)

Two rules that cannot both be obeyed · in a bylaw in force

The plan says there is to be no subdivision in the Wilderness Reserve; the bylaw's Wilderness Reserve zone sets a lot size for subdivision

Community plan policy D.6.4 is flat: no subdivision of land in the Wilderness Reserve. The land use bylaw's Wilderness Reserve zone does not prohibit subdivision. It says no lot smaller than 64.7 hectares may be created, which permits subdivision into lots of that size or larger. Whether the Wilderness Reserve zone covers the same land as the Wilderness Reserve designation has to be checked on the two maps, which are not in either consolidated PDF.

Two rules that cannot both be obeyed · in a bylaw in force

The bylaw lets RG(b) be subdivided into 0.60 hectare lots; the plan's Rural General minimum is 0.81 hectares with one named exception, and RG(b) is not it

Site-specific rule (2) for RG(b) (Lot 3, Section 18, Plan 11979) allows lots of 0.60 hectares. Plan policy D.1.G.5 says the minimum lot area for subdivision in Rural General shall not be less than 0.81 hectares (2 acres). The plan was amended to add an exception, D.1.G.6, and it names only Lot 1, Section 18, Plan 6417, which is RG(f). A search of the plan text finds no mention of Plan 11979 or of 0.60 hectares. The plan words are on PDF page 18 of Bylaw 70 in a paragraph that has no anchor yet (see needsAnchor). Bylaw 136 amended the plan on the same day Bylaw 137 created RG(b); we have not read the text of Bylaw 136, and it needs reading before this finding is used.

Two rules that cannot both be obeyed · in a bylaw in force

The plan asks for one set of definitions across all Saturna bylaws; cottage, aquaculture and residence are defined differently in the plan and the bylaw

Plan policy I.5 says a common set of terms and definitions should be used in all Saturna bylaws. The plan's cottage is no more than 92.9 square metres in total floor area. The bylaw's cottage is 92.9 square metres excluding a basement, so it can be larger. The plan's aquaculture is shellfish only and excludes fin-fish farming; the bylaw's aquaculture is any aquatic plants or animals in any water environment, and the Farmland zone permits fish farming. The plan's residence is a building or group of buildings; the bylaw's is a building.

Two rules that cannot both be obeyed · in a bylaw in force

The plan says in one place that temporary use permits reach Watershed land and in another place leaves Watershed out

Section B.7.3 says temporary use permit areas are designated over the Rural, Farmland, Forest, Watershed and Harbours designations. Section H.1, the part that actually authorises the permits, lists Rural, Forest, Farmland and Harbours. An owner of Watershed land cannot tell from the plan whether a temporary use permit (including one for a vacation rental) can be issued there.

  • “Temporary Use Permit Areas are designated over the Rural, Farmland, Forest, Watershed, and Harbours designations.”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 70, s. B.7(3)

  • “may issue Temporary Use Permits in the Rural, Forest, Farmland and Harbours designations as shown on Schedule B”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 70, s. H.1

A reference that lands on the wrong subject · in a bylaw in force

The RG(f) density rule is written as an exception to a subsection of the Rural Residential zone, and RG(f) is in the Rural General zone.

Rule (9) for RG(f) says Despite 4.1.4, the maximum density is two residences and zero cottages. Subsection 4.1.4 is the Rural Residential density rule. RG(f) is a Rural General site, and the matching Rural General rule is 4.2.4. Read as written, 4.2.4 is not set aside, and that owner has two density rules.

  • “(9) Despite 4.1.4, the maximum density is two (2) residences and zero (0) cottages.”

    Read it: page 21 of the Islands Trust’s own document

  • “4.1.4 On a lot greater than 1.21 hectares (3 acres) in area the maximum density is one (1) residence and one (1) cottage.”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 119, s. 4.1(4)

  • “4.2.4 On a lot having an area greater than 1.21 hectares (3 acres) and less than 4.05 hectares (10 acres) the maximum density is one (1) residence and one (1) cottage.”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 119, s. 4.2(4)

A reference that lands on the wrong subject · in a bylaw in force

The Forest Residential density exception overrides the setback rule, not the density rule

Subsection 9.3.6 allows 5 residences and 5 cottages on one named property and opens with the words Notwithstanding Subsection 9.3.4. Subsection 9.3.4 is the building setback rule. The density rule is 9.3.5 (one residence, or one residence and one cottage). Read as written, 9.3.6 sets aside the setbacks and leaves the ordinary density limit in 9.3.5 standing beside the 5 and 5 allowance, so the owner of that property has two density rules that do not agree.

  • “Notwithstanding Subsection 9.3.4, on the FR1 zoned portion of the land … a maximum of 5 residences and 5 cottages is permitted”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 119, s. 9.3(6)

  • “9.3.4 No building or structure except a fence or a pumphouse shall be sited within 7.6 metres (25 ft.) of any front or rear lot line”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 119, s. 9.3(4)

  • “9.3.5 The permitted site density shall be one residence on lots having an area less than 1.21 hectares (3 acres)”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 119, s. 9.3(5)

A reference that lands on the wrong subject · in a bylaw in force

The five-lot cap in the Forest Residential zone overrides the secondary suite rule, not the lot size rule

Subsection 9.3.9 caps subdivision of one named property at five lots and opens with Notwithstanding 9.3.7. Subsection 9.3.7 is the sentence that permits one secondary suite per residence. The lot size rule is 9.3.8. The reference is one number short of the subject it is about. The cap is also stated only in acres (not to exceed three acres each), while subsection 1.6.1 says metric dimensions are the ones used in the bylaw.

A reference that lands on the wrong subject · in a bylaw in force

The RG(e) site-specific rule sets an average lot area but says it overrides the minimum lot area subsection

In the Rural General site-specific table, rows RG(a), RG(c) and RG(d) change the average lot area and say Despite 4.2.12, which is the average lot area rule. Row RG(e) also changes the average lot area (2.3 hectares) but says Despite 4.2.11, which is the minimum lot area rule. Read as written, the general 2.02 hectare average in 4.2.12 is not set aside for RG(e), so that property is left with two different average lot areas.

  • “(6) Despite 4.2.11 no subdivision plan may be approved unless the lots created by the subdivision have an average area of at least 2.3 hectares (5.68 acres).”

    Read it: page 20 of the Islands Trust’s own document

  • “4.2.11 No lot having an area less than 0.81 hectares (2 acres) may be created by subdivision in the Rural General Zone.”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 119, s. 4.2(11)

  • “4.2.12 No subdivision plan may be approved unless the lots created by the subdivision have an average area of at least 2.02 hectares (5 acres).”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 119, s. 4.2(12)

  • “(5) Despite 4.2.12 no subdivision plan may be approved unless the lots created by the subdivision have an average area of at least 6.0 hectares”

    Read it: page 20 of the Islands Trust’s own document

A reference that lands on the wrong subject · in a bylaw in force

The Lyall Creek development permit area is said to be the land shown on Schedule E, and Schedule E is two appendices of text

Plan section G.1.1 says the development permit area includes all land designated on Schedule E of this plan as being within DPA 1. The plan's own list of schedules says Schedule D is the development permit area map and Schedule E is Appendices A and B. The same section G.1.1 later says Schedule D shall be so interpreted. An owner near Lyall Creek who follows the first reference finds no map.

A term used and never defined · in a bylaw in force

The sign table gives larger signs to a WCM zone, and the bylaw has no WCM zone

Section 13.2 allows two signs and the larger sign areas in the Commercial, Community Services and Industrial zones and in the WCM and WGC zones. Section 3.1 lists every zone and its abbreviation. WGC is there. WCM is not, and no part of the bylaw regulates a WCM zone. The same table gives the lit sign size as 1.8 metres with an imperial figure in square feet, so the word square is missing.

A term used and never defined · in a bylaw in force

Split-zoned lots are measured against the Rural Zone, and the bylaw has four rural zones with different densities

Subsection 2.11.2 says a lot that is part Farmland and part Rural has its density worked out as though the sum total of the land were all in the Rural Zone. Section 12.10 moves subdivision capacity to the Rural zoned portion of a lot. Section 3.1 has no zone called Rural. It has Rural Residential, Rural General, Rural Agricultural Sales and Rural Comprehensive Development, and their density rules differ: Rural Residential stops at one residence and one cottage, Rural General goes up to five and five. The bylaw does not say which one the Rural Zone is.

A term used and never defined · in a bylaw in force

Several density and use rules count things the bylaw does not define: residential unit, dwelling, transient accommodation

Part 15 defines residence, cottage, secondary suite, accommodation unit and sleeping unit. It does not define residential unit, yet the Multiple Family, Commercial, Commercial Recreation and Industrial zones set their housing limits in residential units, and the definition of secondary suite is built on the term. It does not define dwelling, yet 2.13.1 permits a recreational vehicle or yurt as a dwelling or cottage. The Farm Resort zone limits transient accommodation, where the defined term is visitor accommodation. The community plan does define residential unit, which shows the term was meant to have a fixed meaning.

A leftover from an older bylaw or a repealed law · in a bylaw in force

The plan calls the same public bodies by old and new names in different sections

This is shown from the plan's own text, without relying on outside knowledge. Sections amended by Bylaw 101 address the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure; the unamended sections still address the Ministry of Transportation and Highways. Most sections name the Land Reserve Commission; the vacation rental guideline names the Agricultural Land Commission. Most sections name the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks; G.1.3 names the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. The Act is the Ecological Reserves Act in D.6 and the Ecological Reserve Act in D.6.2. Where the plan was amended it uses one name, and where it was not it keeps another, so a reader cannot tell which body a request is addressed to. Which names are current has to be checked against BC Laws and the provincial directory, not taken from this finding.

What the Trust has published · in a bylaw in force

Among Saturna's adopted land use bylaws the Trust lists Schedule C of Land Use Bylaw No. 78, a bylaw that Bylaw 119 repealed.

The Trust's index has two maps of the East Point Water Management Area. The one filed under Adopted Bylaws, Land Use Bylaws, dated 15 December 2020, is titled and printed as Schedule C of Land Use Bylaw No. 78. Clause 4 of Bylaw 119 repealed Bylaw 78 and all of its amendments. The map printed as Schedule C of Land Use Bylaw No. 119 is filed separately under Maps and dated 6 July 2015, three years before Bylaw 119 existed. Section 2.17 makes the cistern requirement depend on the water management area depicted on Schedule C, so an owner at East Point needs to know which map is the law.

What the Trust has published · in a bylaw in force

The Trust files Saturna's Official Community Plan under Maps, not under Adopted Bylaws, so the list of adopted bylaws shows only the plan's Schedule B map.

The plan is served at the address below and is the right document: Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 70, amended to Bylaw 140, 56 pages. In the Trust's document index it is typed as Maps (dated 23 August 2024). The main plan of every other local trust area in the index is typed Adopted Bylaws, Official Community Plans. A reader who filters the library to Saturna's adopted bylaws finds the Schedule B land use map and no plan. The plan's Schedule C and Schedule D maps are also filed only under Maps. The consolidated Land Use Bylaw's own page for Schedule B, the zoning map, is blank apart from its title, and the map is a separate listing.

What the Trust has published · in a bylaw in force

The Trust still lists Meeting Procedure Bylaw No. 135 among Saturna's adopted bylaws, eight months after the committee repealed it.

Bylaw 144 says Meeting Procedure Bylaw No. 135, 2022 is hereby repealed. The committee adopted Bylaw 144 on 29 January 2026. On 19 September 2026 the Trust's index still lists Bylaw 135 under Adopted Bylaws, the listing still serves it, and nothing on it says it has been repealed.

Numbering and proofreading · in a bylaw in force

The CS(a) site-specific rules are numbered (4) then (2), and the second one overrides a subsection that says nothing about averages

The Community Services site-specific table has two rules for the recreation centre and firehall land. They are numbered (4) and then (2); there is no (1) or (3). Both say Despite 4.6.5. Subsection 4.6.5 sets a minimum lot area only. The Community Services zone has no average lot area rule at all, so rule (2), which sets an average of 0.8 hectares, is not an exception to anything in 4.6.5. The introduction to the table also misspells Column as Colum.

  • “(4) Despite 4.6.5, no lot having an area of less than 0.2 ha (.5 acre) may be created by subdivision. (2) Despite 4.6.5 no subdivision plan may be approved unless the lots created by the subdivision have an average area of at least 0.8 ha (2 acres).”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 119, s. 4.6(6)

  • “4.6.5 No lot having an area less than 2.02 hectares (5 acres) may be created by subdivision.”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 119, s. 4.6(5)

  • “The regulations listed in Colum 3 of the following table”

    Read it: Saturna Bylaw 119, s. 4.6(6)

Numbering and proofreading · in a bylaw in force

Part 11 has no section 11.2, the Forest Reserve use list has no item (2), and the parking table has no row (i)

The water zones run 11.1, 11.3, 11.4, 11.5, 11.6 in both the table of contents and the body. The Forest Reserve permitted uses run 9.1.1(1), 9.1.1(3), 9.1.1(4). The parking table runs (h) then (j). A reader cannot tell from the consolidation whether something was repealed or the numbers were never used, because no note says so.

Numbering and proofreading · in a bylaw in force

Leftover and missing words across the bylaw.

Five lot coverage rules say parcel of land lot, and one density rule says lot parcel, as if one word was meant to replace the other. Section 12.4 has lost the start of its second sentence (it begins within two or more zones). Subsection 12.6.4 says under 514 the Local Government Act. Subsection 7.2.4 says twenty nor twelve bedrooms per building. Subsection 2.11.1 refers to itself and its last words and number are split off. Subsection 4.6.4 says measured from, nor. The penalty subsection names the Offense Act. The watercourse definition says salt water march. Subsection 7.2.9 ends with a closing quotation mark that was never opened and 15.1.29 lacks its opening one. The National Park Marine Zone (W5) is called the National Marine Park (W5) Zone in its own use list, and the Open Waters Zone is Open Water in the zone list. Each is small. Together they are a pattern.

Numbering and proofreading · in a bylaw in force

The bylaw explains its numbering with a Part 18 it does not have, and does not follow the scheme it states

Subsection 1.7.1 says the levels are Part, Section, Subsection, Article and Clause, and shows them as 18, 18.1, 18.1.1, 18.1.1(1), 18.1.1(1)(a). The bylaw ends at Part 15. Under the scheme a fourth level is written in brackets, but 1.2.1 and 2.13.1 number their fourth level with a fourth dotted number (1.2.1.1, 2.13.1.1), and 2.11.2 goes straight to a), b), c). The text also calls subsections Sections (Sections 3.2.2 to 3.2.4). This matters because every Despite and Notwithstanding in the bylaw depends on the reader finding the right unit.

What we checked and found sound

  • Every document the Trust's index lists for Saturna from 1 October 2025 to 19 September 2026: minutes of 29 January and 30 April 2026; the 29 January, 30 April and 28 September agendas; the referral of draft Bylaw 146 in the South Pender package of 28 August 2026; Executive Committee minutes for February 2026.
  • Bylaw 143 (29 January 2026 package, pages 74 to 76) compared clause by clause with the May 2026 consolidation: 2.17 now says freshwater and 18,000 litres (3960 gallons); 2.18.5 now reads Secondary suites are not permitted in the areas identified on Schedule E; the floor area definition says freshwater; the Freshwater definition is 15.1.14 and later definitions are renumbered; no rainwater remains. Sound.
  • All 55 cross-references in Bylaw 119 judged against the text. The auditor's three leads are false alarms: two are the example lines in 1.7.1 and the third is 4.2.6, which exists inside the 4.2.5 paragraph.
  • All 26 zones in 3.1 have a regulating section and the reverse. Site-specific references RG(a) to (g), CS(a) and WA(a) each have a row. Contents headings match body headings. 171 of 172 metric and imperial pairs are right within 4 percent.
  • Plan and bylaw agree on Rural Residential and Rural General density and lot sizes, Rural Comprehensive 12.14 hectares, Multiple Family 0.81 hectares, Commercial and Industrial 0.4 hectares, Farmland 20.24 hectares, Forest zones, Wilderness Reserve coverage, split-lot rules and the 7.62 metre Harbours setback.
  • Publication: the listings for Bylaw 119, its Schedules B, D and E, and Plan 70 each serve the document named, at the size the index records. The plan IS in the Trust's full document index (typed Maps), contrary to our earlier note that it was not indexed; it is absent only from the adopted-bylaws subset in data/trust-documents/bylaw-index.json.
  • Not read: the map schedules against the text; the text of amending Bylaws 136, 137 and 141; draft Bylaw 146 (not published); no statute was relied on in any finding.

Open questions

Things that looked worth a second reading and that we could not prove. They are not findings.

  • The agenda for 28 September 2026, as the Trust's index served it on 19 September, is two pages. It marks the staff reports on draft Bylaw 146 and on two applications as attached, and they are not attached. It may be replaced by a full package before the meeting.
  • Bylaw 143 was given three readings in one meeting with no public hearing. The notice of first reading relies on section 464(2) of the Local Government Act and the staff report on section 467. We have not read those sections on BC Laws and make no finding.
  • Schedule E, the secondary suites map that Bylaw 143 enacted on 30 April 2026, is dated 2 October 2025 in the Trust's index and on its face. We cannot tell from the index whether it was published as Schedule E of Bylaw 119 before the bylaw that enacts it was adopted.
  • RG(g) rule (11) says Despite Subsections 4.2.4 - 4.2.6, the maximum density is one residence. Subsection 4.2.6 is the secondary suite permission. Does RG(g) lose the secondary suite?
  • Plan D.9.4 says buildings should be 15.24 metres (50 feet) from the high water mark on the Open Waters coast, keeping 7.62 metres for three named sections. Bylaw 2.5.1 is 7.6 metres everywhere and 2.5.2 lets a boathouse sit inside that. The plan's word is should.
  • Plan D.2.3 says non-farm site coverage on Farmland should be no more than one half of one percent of arable area. The F1 and F2 zones (7.2.3 and 7.3.2) allow two percent of the lot. The plan's word is should, and the designation needs checking on the map.
  • RCD zone: 4.4.10 sets a minimum lot of 12.14 hectares and 4.4.11 an average of 2.02 hectares. With every lot at least 12.14 hectares the average rule can never bite.
  • 12.1 says the average lot area of every subdivision must equal or exceed the applicable minimum and average lot area. It is unclear what it means for an average to exceed a minimum.
  • The bylaw defines residence as a building containing only one kitchen, and 2.18.1 puts a secondary suite inside the building that contains the principal residence. A suite with a kitchen would make the building one with two kitchens. Self-contained is not defined.
  • Multiple Family zone: bylaw 4.5.1 permits affordable, senior or special need housing at 4 units per 0.4 hectares. Plan D.1.M.2 b) limits that density to housing owned and operated by a registered non-profit society. The bylaw leaves out the society condition. Plan page 19, no anchor.
  • Plan F.6.1 says public utilities shall be zoned in separate zones permitting only the particular public service use required. Bylaw 2.1.1(1) permits public service uses in every zone except Wilderness Reserve.
  • 9.3.6 describes the land as the south-west quarter of Section 8, Plan 23285 and 9.3.9 as Lot 1, Section 8, Plan 23285. The same land? Needs a title check.
  • The plan's cover lists Bylaws 133 and 136 as text amendments, and no BL 133 or BL 136 margin note appears anywhere in the text, so a reader cannot see what they changed.
  • Stale names, not checked against BC Laws. Bylaw 119: Land and Water BC Inc. (page 42), Registrar of Titles, Offense Act as spelled. Plan 70: Local Government Act sections 876, 877, 879, 884, 919.1, 920.01 and 941 and Part 26; Land Reserve Commission; Forest Land Reserve Act; Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks; BC Assets and Lands Corporation; Ministry of Transportation and Highways; Capital Health Region; Fish Protection Act; Water Act; a greenhouse gas target by 2020 from 2007 levels.