South Pender Island: the bylaw audit

20 findings: 20 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 129 (in force). The Minor Land Use Bylaw Amendment project: new house size tables in four zones, basement floor area definition deleted, recreational vehicle and shipping container changes. First reading 2 May 2025; public hearing and second reading 5 September 2025; third reading 13 February 2026; approved by the Executive Committee at its 25 February 2026 meeting; adopted by resolution without a meeting on 16 March 2026. It has no listing of its own in the Trust's index; its text is in the 13 February 2026 package, pages 81 to 87.
  • South Pender Island Land Use Bylaw No. 114 (in force). In force, as amended by Bylaw 129. The Trust's consolidation is dated March 2026.
  • South Pender Island Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 107 (in force). In force. Consolidated to Bylaw 119 (2021). A targeted review of the plan was added to the future projects list on 5 September 2025 and has not started.
  • Bylaw 131 (not yet adopted). Public Notification Bylaw (not a land use bylaw). On 25 March 2026 the Executive Committee refused to approve it (resolution EC-2026-041) and recommended two notice methods only. It was back before the committee on 28 August 2026 to rescind third reading, amend, and send again to the Executive Committee. The minutes of that meeting are not yet in the index.
  • Bylaw 130 (in force). Repeals Meeting Procedure Bylaw No. 125. Three readings on 13 February 2026, approved by the Executive Committee, adopted by resolution without a meeting on 16 March 2026.
  • Bylaw 122 and 123 (in force). Bylaw 122 (adopted 15 September 2022) is the house size and sea setback bylaw that Bylaw 129 revised; its listing serves the adopted bylaw. Bylaw 123 appears in the index only as a 2022 public hearing notice and package. Neither had any step in 2026.

In bylaws in force

Something left out · in a bylaw in force

Shipping containers must be screened 'in compliance with Section 3.9', and Section 3.9 depends on a 'required height' that the shipping container rule never gives

Subsection 3.5(7) requires shipping containers (the shipping container rules in 3.5(6) carry the margin notes for amending Bylaws 122 and 129, the second adopted on 16 March 2026). It requires them to be screened 'by use of landscaping screening in compliance with Section 3.9'. Section 3.9(1) describes vegetation 'of the required height' or plants 'that will attain the required height'. It sets no height itself. The home business rule in 3.6(3) supplies one (2.0 metres). The shipping container rule supplies none, so an owner cannot tell how tall the screen has to be. The phrase 'landscaping screening' is also neither the defined term 'landscape screen' (which includes fencing) nor either of the two kinds of screen in 3.9 ('vegetative landscape screening' and 'non-vegetative screen'), so the text does not say whether a fence will do.

  • “Shipping containers must be screened from neighbouring lots, roads, or the sea by use of landscaping screening in compliance with Section 3.9.”

    Read it: South Pender Bylaw 114, s. 3.5(7)

  • “Existing vegetation of the required height … A row of drought-tolerant evergreen plants that will attain the required height”

    Read it: South Pender Bylaw 114, s. 3.9(1)

  • “enclosed by a fence or by a landscape screen at least 2.0 metres (6.6 feet) in height conforming with the provisions of Section 3.9”

    Read it: South Pender Bylaw 114, s. 3.6(3)

Something left out · in a bylaw in force

For the Commercial Resort zone the bylaw's sign table gives no sign area and points to the plan; the plan's sign guideline points back to the bylaw

Table 6.1 gives every other zone a maximum total sign area. In the row for the C zone the area column holds a note instead: 'Development permit area established in Part VII of the OCP'. The plan's development permit guideline for signs in that area says 'Total sign area shall not exceed that permitted by local bylaws'. Each document leaves the number to the other, so neither sets one. The plan also has no 'Part VII'; its development permit areas are in 'PART 7'.

Something left out · in a bylaw in force

The bylaw defines 'short term vacation rental' and then never uses the term, and its definition does not match the plan's

The definition of short term vacation rental appears in Section 1.1 and the term appears nowhere else in Bylaw 114: no zone permits it and no general regulation prohibits it by name. The plan deals with the use through temporary use permits and carries its own definition. The bylaw says 'less than 30 consecutive days'; the plan says 'less than a month at a time'. Other terms are also defined and never used in the body: 'Farm Status', 'principal structure' and 'personal service use' (3.6(1) speaks of 'a personal service').

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

The house size rules measure against 15 September 2022 but let the committee demand proof of the house 'at the time of the adoption of the bylaw', and this bylaw was adopted in 2017

In the Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resource zones (and in 5.1(5)(d) for the Rural Residential zones, on PDF page 26) an owner replacing a house larger than Column B is held to 'the floor area of the dwelling on September 15, 2022'. The next article lets the Local Trust Committee require evidence of the size and siting of the dwelling 'at the time of the adoption of the bylaw'. The bylaw the words sit in is Bylaw 114, which its own enactment page says was adopted on 3 October 2017; 15 September 2022 is the adoption date of amending Bylaw 122 in the table of amendments. Subsection 2.2(4) uses 'the time of adoption of this Bylaw' in the ordinary sense of Bylaw 114. The sea setback rule in 3.3(5) has the same pair of dates (its closing words are on PDF page 18). An owner cannot tell from the text which date the evidence is for. Bylaw 129, adopted on 16 March 2026, re-enacted these words in every zone, so three dates are now in play: 3 October 2017, 15 September 2022 and 16 March 2026.

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

The community plan says underground sewage disposal is to be exempt from the committee's setback rules; the land use bylaw gives it a 30 metre setback

Community plan policy 6.4.2(b) says underground structures for disposal of sewage 'are to be exempted from Local Trust Committee bylaw setback regulations'. Land Use Bylaw 3.3(6) says an underground sewage disposal system, including septic tanks and absorption fields, 'shall not be sited within 30 metres (98 feet) of a watercourse, well or source of domestic water supply'. The plan and the bylaw say opposite things about the same subject. On a small lot a 30 metre distance from every well can decide where, or whether, a septic field fits.

  • “b) Underground structures for disposal of sewage are to be exempted from Local Trust Committee bylaw setback regulations”

    Read it: South Pender Bylaw 107, s. 6.4(2)

  • “An underground sewage disposal system, including all septic tanks, absorption fields and related appurtenances shall not be sited within 30 metres (98 feet) of a watercourse, well or source of domestic water supply.”

    Read it: South Pender Bylaw 114, s. 3.3(6)

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

The community plan defines a cottage as 70 square metres or less; the land use bylaw allows a 90 square metre cottage in the Agriculture zone

The plan's definition reads: 'Cottage' means an accessory single family dwelling with a floor area of 70 square metres (753 square feet) or less. The bylaw keeps to 70 square metres in the Rural Residential, Forestry and Natural Resource zones, but 5.5(10) sets the Agriculture zone maximum at 90 square metres (969 square feet). A building of 71 to 90 square metres is a cottage under the bylaw and is not a cottage under the plan.

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

The plan's stream and wetland permit area exempts septic fields more than 30.5 metres from the water, and the permit area itself stops at 30 metres

Development Permit Area Two 'encompasses those areas 30 metres' either side of a stream and 30 metres landward of a wetland or lake. One of its exemptions is for installing a septic tank or field 'further than 30.5 metres (100 ft.)' from the natural boundary. Any spot more than 30.5 metres away is already outside a 30 metre area, so on the text the exemption can never apply: every septic installation inside the area needs a permit. The 30.5 metre figure may be a conversion of 100 feet that was not reconciled with the 30 metre boundary.

  • “encompasses those areas 30 metres (98.4 ft.) either side of stream natural boundaries and 30 metres (98.4ft.) landward of wetland and lake natural boundaries”

    Read it: South Pender Bylaw 107, s. 7.2(4)

  • “e) Installation of any portion of a sewage septic tank/disposal field further than 30.5 metres (100 ft.) of the natural boundary of a wetland, stream, or lake.”

    Read it: South Pender Bylaw 107, s. 7.2(5)

A reference to something that does not exist · in a bylaw in force

The definition of a resort hotel allows other uses set out in Section 11.1, and the bylaw ends at Part 8.

The definition of hotel, resort says the hotel may include or contain other uses set out in Section 11.1. Bylaw 114 has eight Parts and no section 11.1. The Commercial Resort uses are listed in 5.2(1). The number looks like one from an earlier bylaw. The definition decides what the only resort on the island may contain.

A reference to something that does not exist · in a bylaw in force

The subdivision water rule lets an owner grant a covenant tied to a certification under Subsection 4.4.3, which does not exist.

Subsection 8.12(4)(b) is one of two ways to get a subdivision approved when the water certification cannot be made for every use. It limits development to the uses for which a certification has been made under Subsection 4.4.3. Part 4 has sections 4.1 to 4.3 and nothing numbered 4.4.3. The certification is the one in 8.12(3), and the rest of 8.12 cites it correctly. Subsection 8.12(1) also sends the reader to Table 1 in Subsection 8.12(3), and the table there is headed TABLE 8.1.

A reference to something that does not exist · in a bylaw in force

The parking rules send the reader to 'Table 2', and the water rules to 'Table 1'; the bylaw's tables are numbered 6.1, 7.1 and 8.1

Subsection 7.3(2) says that a use 'not listed in Table 2' takes the number of spaces of the most similar listed use. The bylaw has no Table 2. The parking table that follows in 7.4(1) is 'Table 7.1'. In the same way 8.12(3) requires water 'in the amounts set out in Table 1' while the table printed in that same subsection is headed 'TABLE 8.1'. Table 1 and Table 2 look like table numbers from an earlier bylaw.

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

The Agriculture zone's livestock setback overrides a subsection of the Natural Resource zone instead of its own setback rule

Section 5.5 is the Agriculture zone. Subsection 5.5(7) opens with 'Despite Subsection 5.7(6)'. Section 5.7 is the Natural Resource zone, and 5.7(6) is that zone's maximum floor area rule. The general setback rule that a 30 metre livestock setback departs from is 5.5(6), in the Agriculture zone itself. The next subsection, 5.5(8), cites 5.5(6)(a) correctly. A farm owner reading 5.5(7) is sent to a floor area table in another zone.

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

The dock ramp width limit in the Marine General zone applies to floats 'permitted in Article 5.15(1)(b)', which is a national park provision that permits no floats

Section 5.11 is the Marine General (W1) zone, where private docks sit. Subsection 5.11(4) limits the width of a ramp or walkway 'used to access any float or wharf permitted in Article 5.15(1)(b)'. Section 5.15 is the National Park Marine (W5) zone, and 5.15(1)(b) reads 'Natural resource management and protection'. The floats and wharves of the W1 zone are permitted in 5.11(1)(b). Read as written, the 1.5 metre limit attaches to floats that the cited article does not permit. The number 5.15 suggests a section number left over from an earlier draft or bylaw.

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

'Zone' is defined as a zone established by Part 5, and the zones are established by Part 4

The definition says a zone is one 'established by Part 5 of this Bylaw'. Part 4 is titled 'ESTABLISHMENT OF ZONES' and its subsection 4.1(1) is the provision that divides the area into the named zones. Part 5 holds the regulations for each zone. It is a small slip, recorded because it fits the pattern of section numbers that were not updated.

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

Development Permit Area Three fixes its restricted area by the boundary of a permit area under a name the plan does not use

Guideline 7.3.7(a) draws the restricted part of the Bedwell Harbour Ridge area by reference to the boundary it shares with 'the Commercial Development No. 1 - Bedwell Harbour Resort Area Development Permit Area'. The plan has no permit area of that name. Its first permit area is 'Development Permit Area One - Commercial Form and Character'. The name in 7.3.7 looks like one carried over from an earlier plan.

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

The Commercial Resort zone permits a 'Resort hotel'; the defined term is 'hotel, resort', and the parking table speaks of a 'Staff Dwelling Unit in Commercial zone' that no zone provides for

Section 1.1 defines 'hotel, resort' and 'hotel accommodation'. The zone permits 'Resort hotel', the definition of hotel cottage speaks of 'a resort hotel use', and the definitions of hotel room and hotel villa speak of 'a hotel use'. The zone's density rule (PDF page 29) speaks of 'hotel temporary accommodation use', not the defined 'hotel accommodation' that carries the length of stay limits. Table 7.1 sets parking for a 'Staff Dwelling Unit in Commercial zone': the bylaw has no zone called Commercial, 'dwelling unit' is not a defined term, and the C zone allows staff housing only 'in a dormitory building'. 'Resort activity centre' is permitted and not defined.

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

The community plan, consolidated in December 2021, still names Bylaw 92 as the current land use bylaw

Section 1.1 of the plan says the Land Use Bylaw is 'currently bylaw no. 92' and its footnote links to a copy of that bylaw. Land Use Bylaw 114 says on its enactment page (PDF page 3, clause 4) that Bylaw No. 92 and all of its amendments are repealed, and records its adoption on 3 October 2017. The plan's table of amendments shows it was amended after that date, by Bylaw 115 in 2019 and Bylaw 119 in 2021, and this sentence was not updated.

What the Trust has published · in a bylaw in force

The Trust still lists Meeting Procedure Bylaw No. 125 among South Pender's adopted bylaws, six months after the committee repealed it.

Bylaw 130 says Meeting Procedure Bylaw No. 125, 2022 is hereby repealed. The committee adopted Bylaw 130 by a resolution without a meeting on 16 March 2026. On 19 September 2026 the Trust's document index still lists Bylaw 125 under Adopted Bylaws, the listing still serves it, and nothing on it says it has been repealed. Bylaw 130 and Bylaw 129, adopted the same day, have no listing of their own.

Numbering and proofreading · in a bylaw in force

Bylaw 129, adopted on 16 March 2026, letters the Natural Resource house size rules (d), (e), (f), (e) and then relies on paragraph (c). The Trust's consolidation prints (a) to (d).

Bylaw 129 put a new Maximum Floor Area subsection into four zones. In the Natural Resource zone, clause 2.28 letters the paragraphs (d), (e), (f) and (e) again, and the last one begins Where 5.7(6)(c)(i) is applicable. As enacted, 5.7(6) has no paragraph (c) and has two paragraphs (e). The copy sent to the Executive Committee has the same lettering. The committee gave third reading on 13 February 2026 without amendment and adopted the bylaw by a resolution without a meeting on 16 March 2026. The Trust's consolidated Bylaw 114 prints the paragraphs as (a), (b), (c), (d), which is not what the amending bylaw says, and the consolidation's own cover says it is not to be construed as a legal document. The rule in question is the one that decides how large a replacement house may be.

Numbering and proofreading · in a bylaw in force

Small slips in Bylaw 114: a zone misnamed in the zone list, zone names and abbreviations that change from section to section, a heading that promises a height rule, broken brackets and missing units

Recorded together because the pattern is itself evidence. The zone list calls W4 'Marina Transportation Service'; its own section and the zoning map legend call it 'Marine Transportation Service'. The groundwater rule names the zones 'RR(1), RR(2) or RR(3)' where the zone list has RR1, RR2, RR3 (and the map uses brackets for site-specific zones such as RR1(a)). The bed and breakfast rule names the 'Agricultural' and 'Forest' zones; the list has Agriculture and Forestry. Section 6.4 is headed 'Siting and Height' and contains a siting rule and no height rule; its siting rule uses 'front yard' and 'exterior side yard', which the bylaw does not define. Section 3.4 is called a 'Subsection' in two zones. A shipping container threshold has no unit ('0.8 (2 acres)'). A cross-reference has a missing bracket ('5.5(9(c)(i)'). A sign area reads '4.0 m 2 (43.1) square feet)'. The same imperial figure is attached to different metric ones: 3.0 metres and 3.1 metres are both '10 ft.', and 9.2 metres and 9.15 metres are both '30 ft.'. The missing bracket in 5.5(9)(d) is in Bylaw 129 itself, adopted on 16 March 2026 (page 84 of the 13 February 2026 package).

Numbering and proofreading · in a bylaw in force

Numbering slips in the community plan: a guideline numbered 7.10 between 7.1.9 and 7.1.11, and policy letters used twice

Inside Development Permit Area One (section 7.1) the landscaping guidelines are numbered '7.10', between 7.1.9 and 7.1.11; under the plan's own numbering rule in 1.7 a two part number is a section, so 7.10 reads as the tenth section of Part 7. In the forest policies the letter c) is used twice in a row, once for the temporary use permit policy added by Bylaw 119 and again for the first advocacy policy. The agriculture policies have two policies lettered j) in the same way (the second is on PDF page 22), the water policies have two items numbered ii) (PDF pages 45 and 46), and the land transportation advocacy policies run from vi) to viii) with no vii) (PDF page 43). A citation to 3.6.2(c), 3.5.2(j) or 6.3.2(c)(ii) does not identify one policy.

What we checked and found sound

  • Every document the Trust's index lists for South Pender from 1 December 2025 to 19 September 2026: minutes of 5 December, 13 February and 8 May; the 13 February, 8 May and 28 August agenda packages; Executive Committee minutes for February and March 2026.
  • Bylaw 129 as read a third time (13 February 2026 package, pages 81 to 87) and as sent to the Executive Committee, read in full and compared clause by clause with the March 2026 consolidation. Apart from the lettering finding, the consolidation carries every change. All metric and imperial pairs in the new house size table are right within rounding.
  • All 45 cross-references in Bylaw 114 judged against the text. Every zone in 4.1 has a regulations section and the reverse. Contents headings match body headings. Subsection numbering is continuous, with Rescinded placeholders.
  • Plan and bylaw agree on: dwelling and cottage numbers by lot size in Rural Residential; lot sizes for RR1, RR2 and RR3 (0.4, 0.8 and 4.0 hectares), Agriculture and Forestry (4 hectares) and Natural Resource (12 hectares); no liveaboards; no personal watercraft rental; helipads for emergencies only; the 15 metre watercourse setback; on-island water only.
  • Publication: the listings for Bylaw 114, Plan 107, Bylaw 122 and the zoning map each serve the document the title names, at the size the index records.
  • Not read: the plan's map schedules; the text of Bylaws 131 and 123; 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 short term vacation rental project. The committee called it critical on 8 May 2026 (resolution SP-2026-022): owners who operated lawfully before Bylaw 120 (5 November 2021) lost non-conforming status through provincial legislation, enforcement is deferred by standing resolution, and the project is on hold for lack of staff. No bylaw has been drafted. The Trust's active projects report says the hold follows the CAO's Operational Review (December 2026), a date that has not happened yet; probably December 2025.
  • Information note added to the Agriculture zone by Bylaw 129: The Agricultural Land Reserve Use Regulation regulates total floor area for a dwelling to not exceed 500 m² on a parcel with an area of 40 ha or less. On BC Laws the 500 square metre limit on a principal residence is in section 20.1(1)(b) of the Agricultural Land Commission Act and applies to every parcel; the 40 hectare test is in section 34.3 of the Regulation and governs the size of a second residence. Read 19 September 2026 at https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/02036_01#section20.1 and https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/30_2019#section34.3. An information note is not law (section 1.4), so this is recorded as a question, not a finding.
  • Bylaw 129 clauses 2.10 and 2.11 both create a new subsection at the front of 3.10 (a new 3.10(1), then a new 3.10(2)), and only the first says to renumber. The consolidation prints (1), (2), (3), which is the sensible reading.
  • A marina is defined as the use of a water area, Table 7.1 requires one parking space for every three boats, 7.1(1) requires parking on the same lot and in the same zone, and the Marina (W3) zone is water on Schedule B. Look at the map inset before using this.
  • 3.10(3)(c): a recreational vehicle used as a temporary dwelling during a build must comply as if the vehicle were a cottage, and 5.1(2) permits no cottage on a lot under 0.8 hectares. Does that bar living in a recreational vehicle while building on most Rural Residential 1 lots?
  • 8.6(1): frontage must not be less than 20.12 metres (66 feet) or the minimum frontage established in Section 512. The or does not say which governs.
  • Plan policy 5.1.3(b)(i) speaks of limiting development within 7.5 metres (25 ft.) of the sea. The bylaw now uses 15 metres, and 7.6 metres for buildings that stood on 15 September 2022. The bylaw is stricter than the plan. Plan page 35, no anchor.
  • Plan 3.5.2(d)(iii) allows extra dwellings in Agriculture only as the Agricultural Land Commission permits. Bylaw 5.5(3), rewritten by Bylaw 129, permits one cottage or one dwelling for farm workers outright.
  • The density rules in 5.1, 5.5, 5.6 and 5.7 use parcel. The defined term is lot.
  • Items 5.1(1)(d) and 5.1(9) read Rescinded and still carry check marks in every zone column.
  • Stale names in the plan, not checked against BC Laws: Local Government Act sections 877, 919.1, 920.1, 921 and 941 and Part 26; Waste Management Act Agricultural Waste Control Regulation; Water Act; Islands Trust Fund; Vancouver Island Health Authority; Provincial Emergency Services Program; B.C. Ferries Corporation; a greenhouse gas target of 33% by 2020 from 2007 levels; 2006 census data. The plan and the bylaw give three different names and ministries for the one 1992/1996 letter of agreement on roads.
  • Publication: a superseded consolidation of Bylaw 114 (to Bylaw 122, titled Blackline, October 2022) is still listed under Adopted Bylaws beside the current one.