Green Bylaws Toolkit
What is the Green Bylaws Toolkit?
The Stewardship Centre for BC supports the Green Bylaws Toolkit and has provided the hosting of this resource within the SCBC site. This resource is the collaborative work of many individual organizations and is intended to guide land managers and those interested in the conservation of sensitive ecosystems and natural capital.
Taken from the preface of the document:
In the two decades since the publication of Stewardship Bylaws: A Guide for Local Government, local governments and the public have made great strides in understanding the relationship between green infrastructure, community health, the legal mechanisms available for protecting environmentally sensitive areas (ESAs) and, more recently, understanding ecological connectivity in ecosystem health.
The 2007 Green Bylaws Toolkit built upon and complemented Stewardship Bylaws, as did the 2016 Toolkit edition. This newly updated Toolkit continues in that effort to provide current, useful information to guide conservation planning. Many local governments now work towards allowing the landscape to shape the design of new development. Mapping, studies of ecosystem services, senior government regulation, best practices guides, local leadership, and public awareness have all contributed to a change in land development practices.
The purpose of the Green Bylaws Toolkit is to provide local governments (municipal and regional) and the public with practical tools for protecting green infrastructure. It includes bylaw language that local governments in BC are now using to protect ecosystem health and explains the various legal approaches to protection, their benefits and drawbacks.
The Toolkit was updated and reorganized in 2021 in response to feedback from planners around the province and continued development pressures. This third edition includes new legislation, guidelines, best practices and bylaws that can help communities contribute toward sustainable land development in BC.
Rationale for a Green Bylaws Toolkit
In an ideal world, stewardship approaches could be customized for every environmentally sensitive area, every landowner, and every parcel. In reality, only very large parcels of land or major developments can warrant the time that this customization would demand.
In the meantime, stewardship needs to be accomplished on small parcels throughout the municipalities and regional districts where stewardship opportunities are needlessly and incrementally lost for want of effective protection of sensitive ecosystems. Stewardship is a shared responsibility between local governments, landowners, and other community members.
Funding for Green Bylaws Toolkit
The Environmental Law Centre at the University of Victoria, Faculty of Law initiated the original version of this Toolkit for Ducks Unlimited Canada, the Wetlands Stewardship Partnership, and the Grasslands Conservation Council of British Columbia. Law students Linnsie Clark and Kate Hamm worked in concert with law instructors Deborah Curran and Calvin Sandborn.
Deborah Curran (Deborah Curran and Company) completed the original Toolkit. Deborah Curran (Deborah Curran and Company) and Ethan Krindle (Ethan Krindle, Lawyer and Legal Researcher) completed the 2015 update. Jan Kirkby (Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada) contributed significantly to the chapter on Regional Conservation Strategies and the sections on mapping. Deborah Curran (Deborah Curran and Company) and Erin Gray (Arbutus Law Group LLP) completed the 2021 update.
Thanks to Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ducks Unlimited Canada, the BC Ministry of Environment, the Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia and the Canadian Wildlife Service for their financial support, to the Stewardship Centre for BC for hosting the Toolkit on its website, and to Bev Ramey of BC Nature for providing the inspiration for this project.
Special thanks to the following individuals who were members of the initial organizing committee and made significant investments of time and expertise to make this Toolkit and the 2nd (2016) edition more accurate and render it more useful for local governments and community organizations: Ian Barnett, Rob Barrs, Les Bogdan, Ken Cossey, Bruno Delasalle , Neil Fletcher, Janet Fontaine, Jan Kirkby, Ted Pobran, Lucy Reiss, Tasha Sargent, Andrea Tanaka.
The 3rd (2021) edition of the Toolkit benefited significantly from input from: Andrea Barnett, Tanya Bettles, DG Blair, Lynn Campbell, Laramie Ferguson, Neil Fletcher, Brittany Lange, Adriane Pollard and Andrea Tanaka.
- Local government staff from across the province who participated in a focus group workshop on the original edition: Grant Bain (City of Prince George), Ken Bennett (District of North Vancouver), Todd Cashin (formerly with the Central Okanagan Regional District and now with City of Kelowna), John Gauld (Islands Trust), Sarah Dal Santo (formerly with the City of Coquitlam and now with the District of North Vancouver), and Robyn Wark (formerly with the City of Burnaby and now with BC Hydro)
- Michael Pitt (Past Chair of the GCC), Dave Whiting, Kristi Iverson, Mike Kennedy, Bill Henwood, and Maurice Hansen
- Local government staff and others who provided information for chapters and case studies and about bylaws: Sue Austen, Jim Bailey, Kerry Baron, Jack Basey, Laura Beckett, Ken Bennett, Heather Beresford, Donovan Bishop, David Blaine, Jay Bradley, Kevin Bridges, Glenn Brown, David Brownlee, Bill Buholzer, Karen Christie, Laurie Cordell, Jason Cordoni, Terry Crowe, Lisa Dunn, Angela Evans, Kelly Foisy, John Gauld, Hagen Hahndorf, Susan Haid, Sheila Harrington, Robert Kojima, Nicholas Lai, Rob Lawrance, Brian Lawrence, Fred Levitt, Brent Magnan, Chris Marshall, Chris Nation, Adriane Pollard, Ardice Todosichuk, David Reid, Harriet Rueggeberg, Michael Roth, Rod Sanderson, Marcy Sangret, Sarah Dal Santo, Paul Skydt, Paul Stanton, Mark Watt, Robyn Wark, Karen Barry, Stephen Godwin, Richard Boase, Alan Duncan, Robyn Worcester, Andre Boel, Mark Haddock, Kristin Aasen, Kate Emmings, Christine Rikley, Erin Gorby, Cameron Scott, Margaret Bakelaar, Rachelle Rondeau, Curtis Helgesen, Jaclyn Jimenez, Tamsin Mills, Lise Townsend, Carol Luttmer, Karin Albert, Laurie Bates-Frymel, Scott Boswell, James Casey, Jason Chu, Paul Dupuis, Melisa Gunn, Julie Kanya, Alex Kondor, Erika Mashig, Emily Sinclair, Rodney Stott, Jamie Vala, and Pamela Zevit.
The text of bylaws and other resources are adapted or reproduced with permission from the Capital Regional District, Central Okanagan Regional District, City of Burnaby, City of Chilliwack, City of Coquitlam, City of Kelowna, City of Nanaimo, City of Penticton, City of Surrey, City of Vancouver, Comox Strathcona Regional District, Comox Valley Regional District, District of Highlands, Cowichan Valley Regional District, District of Lake Country, District of Metchosin, District of North Vancouver, District of Saanich, District of West Vancouver, Islands Trust, Okanagan Similkameen Regional District, Regional District of Nanaimo, Resort Municipality of Whistler, Town of Gibsons, Town of Osoyoos, and Village of Cumberland.
The text and bylaw provisions in this Toolkit and its associated website are provided for information purposes only. They do not constitute legal advice. Please consult qualified legal counsel to draft and approve bylaw text. Changes in legislation, the common law and site- or local government-specific conditions require special consideration to ensure that bylaws are legal.