Columns: Why Can’t FVRD Look After Its Constituents The Way Peachland Does?

From Walter Neufeld. PeachlandNews.com reported has reported that Peachland’s Council recently stood up for its constituency’s best interests. Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) constituents are left wondering why democracy works so well in that small town but not in the FVRD?

From Peachland News
Update. . . Editor’s note. . . PeachlandNews.com reported (below) that Peachland’s Soil Removal and Deposit Bylaw #1934 was dead after district council voted against giving third reading to the bylaw on Wednesday. In fact, Bylaw #1934 is not completely dead. Although council did not give third reading to the bylaw, it remains on the books at second reading stage. To completely kill the bylaw, council would have to rescind first and second and readings. Bylaw #1934 remains on the books at this time, at second reading stage.

by Dave Preston

District council decided Wednesday that Peachland will not be a haven for gravel pits.

Five years ago council amended the 1982 Earthworks Control Bylaw (#832) by limiting the amount of soil or aggregate from any parcel of land to 200 cubic metres per calendar year.

The amendment was approved while Peachland Self Storage was in the process of seeking a Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources permit for a proposed gravel pit on McDougald Road.

Peachland’s amendment was seen as a challenge to both the ministry and the gravel pit proponent. Council’s stance at the time was that even if the gravel pit was approved by the ministry, Peachland’s bylaw would severely limit the proponent’s ability to extract gravel.

Soon after passing the amendment, the district began working on a new Soil Deposit and Removal Bylaw (#1934) that could eventually replace Bylaw #832.

The new bylaw vastly increased the amount of soil and gravel that could be removed from any property to 100,000 cubic metres per calendar year. It also set out a fee schedule and permit terms and conditions.

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Walter Neufeld

*Walter Neufeld was born and raised in Abbotsford. He manages a development company operating in BC and in Alberta. Walter has been a critic of the provincial government’s dysfunctional Mines Act for about 12 years. Most recently, he’s critiqued both Honourable Randy Hawes and the gravel industries Aggregate Pilot Project (APP). Neufeld believes the APP is a harmful private production document which Hawes is currently trying to offload onto BC’s public domain.