Thursday, November 1, 2012
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Court Decision on Vacation Rentals
October 30, 2012
BC SUPREME COURT RELEASES DECISION ON WESTCOAST VACATIONS INC.
VICTORIA - The Supreme Court of British Columbia has not supported an attempt launched last term by the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee to more effectively enforce community zoning related to short term vacation rentals (STVRs) on Salt Spring Island. The local bylaw prohibiting STVRs remains in place, but an attempt to enforce the bylaw by focusing on a vacation rental agent, rather than individual STVRs, has not been successful.
In March 2011, the local trust committee instructed Islands Trust legal counsel to seek an injunction that would restrain Westcoast Vacations Inc. from using or facilitating the use of residential homes for STVRs on Salt Spring Island. With the advent and growth of STVR booking agencies, enforcement of the community zoning bylaw has been more difficult and more costly for taxpayers.
The case was argued in court before the Honourable Mr. Justice Leask of the BC Supreme Court on October 25 and 26, 2011. Legal counsel for the local trust committee argued that Westcoast Vacations Inc. was using or permitting the use of residentially zoned properties for commercial guest accommodation, and was thereby breaching Salt Spring’s Land Use Bylaw. Westcoast Vacations did not argue that STVRs were a legal land use, but argued that only the individual owners of the properties could be subject to court injunction preventing this use.
In his Reasons for Judgment released on October 29, 2012, Mr. Justice Leask, noted that “Commercial guest accommodation use is not a permitted primary or accessory use of any land in the Residential Zones.” However, he found that the activities of Westcoast Vacations do not, on their own, constitute a breach of the bylaw, in that Westcoast Vacations could not prevent or prohibit the use of a property for an STVR.
“This was an effort to make bylaw enforcement more efficient, given the SSILTC’s direction last term to actively enforce the land use bylaw regarding STVRs,” said Miles Drew, Islands Trust Bylaw Enforcement Manager. “I will now seek further direction from the current local trust committee as to how it wishes to proceed.”
Salt Spring’s long-standing Official Community Plan policies and zoning regulations prohibit STVRs - the use of private homes in rural and residential zones for commercial guest accommodation. The prohibition does not affect legal bed and breakfasts in residential zones, or legal resorts, hotels and motels in commercial zones, all of which are widely available on the island. People may also continue to rent portions of cottages as part of a bed and breakfast operation in most zones and to rent their residential properties for periods longer than 30 days to a tenant for residential use. - End.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
More Quake Action-No Warnings
NWS-WCATWC Tsunami Information Statement SEUS71 PAAQ 281857 EQIWOC TSUNAMI SEISMIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NWS WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER PALMER AK 1157 AM PDT SUN OCT 28 2012 ...THIS IS AN INFORMATION STATEMENT... EVALUATION AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED THAT IS NOT EXPECTED TO GENERATE A TSUNAMI. THIS WILL BE THE ONLY WCATWC MESSAGE ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT. PRELIMINARY EARTHQUAKE PARAMETERS MAGNITUDE - 6.4 TIME - 1054 AKDT OCT 28 2012 1154 PDT OCT 28 2012 1854 UTC OCT 28 2012 LOCATION - 52.8 NORTH 132.5 WEST 40 MILES/64 KM SW OF SANDSPIT BRITISH COLUMBIA 390 MILES/628 KM S OF JUNEAU ALASKA DEPTH - 12 MILES/19 KM THE LOCATION AND MAGNITUDE ARE BASED ON PRELIMINARY INFORMATION. FURTHER INFORMATION WILL BE ISSUED BY THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY - EARTHQUAKE.USGS.GOV - OR THE APPROPRIATE REGIONAL SEISMIC NETWORK. $$
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Saturday, October 27, 2012
Filming Notice
NOTICE OF UPCOMINNG FILM SHOOT
COX BAY, CHESTERMAN BEACH AND LONG BEACH/PACIFIC RIM NATIONAL PARK.
A PSA BREAST CANCER COMMERICAL IS FILMING ON THE BEACHES OF TOFINO ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON OCTOBER 28 AND MONDAY OCT.29THFROM APX 8AM TO 7PM. A BOAT AND JET SKI WILL BE OFF SHORE AND SURFERS IN THE WATER, BEING FILMED. FILMING WILL BE AT ONE OR 2 OF THE FOLLOWING : COX BAY, NORTH OR SOUTH CHESTERMAN, LONG BEACH , WICK BEACH OR FLORENCIA BAY.
FILMGROUP TV.
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