zoning and land use and bylaw enforcement on Lasqueti

This is my expression of my personal view.

Islands Trust Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement (BC&E) is handled by that department, who receive complaints and do investigations. When necessary they report to the Local Trust Committee and make recommendations and requests about action (unless they find that there is no issue and close the file). The trustees do not take part in the process except when an issue is brought to the LTC by BC&E. The community has minimal to no role, because when the issues come to the LTC, it is in an in camera (closed to the public) session, and there is rarely anything reported to the public after the session. Trustees and staff that attend an in camera meeting must keep everything in confidence, and not disclose anything that took place or was decided, or not decided.

There are, I believe, several major problems that contribute to the current situation:    less than perfect parts in our Land Use Bylaw (LUB);   lots of instances of apparent non-compliance that exist and have existed for years; and   our complaint-based system of bylaw compliance and enforcement.  There are other factors, too, but these are the main ones, I believe

Many of the zoning provisions in our Land Use Bylaw are in a muddle and are not working. There are many businesses operating on properties that have the overall "Land Based" (residential) zoning that most land has on Lasqueti. When we originally instituted zoning, we simply zoned for the businesses (or most of them) that existed at that time. 

We have provision for Home Enterprise, but limited indication of what constitutes a home enterprise, and few limits in the regulation, except for some extra regulations for Bed and Breakfast and Parking Lot home enterprises.

Complaint-driven BC&E is not ideal. It can be used by a complainant to harass someone. An active complainant can push to have their complaint dealt with.

Our LUB leaves a lot that must be interpreted by the BC&E manager, who seeks legal advice when needed. The Lasqueti Trust Committee can decide to stop a bylaw enforcement action, if they think this is a wise and justified decision.

Finally (for now at least):  If you want to communicate with the Lasqueti Trust Committee, please use the email for the entire committee,   LasquetiIslandLocalTrustCommittee [at] islandstrust [dot] bc [dot] ca  This goes to all three trustees and our planner. It also goes on the public record, which is necessary.  At a LTC meeting, we are only allowed to consider correspondence and input received by the committee and on the public record, so that others can respond to it. There is then a record of what input is for all decisions.    It isn't useful and doesn't (and shouldn't) count if I report that two (or two hundred) residents and landowners want (or don't want) something.