https://vancouverisl...ystem-1.5167261
Edited by slow1234, 29 October 2020 - 05:04 PM.
Posted 29 October 2020 - 05:04 PM
Edited by slow1234, 29 October 2020 - 05:04 PM.
Posted 12 January 2023 - 06:23 AM
Cap Daily newsletter:
Controversial EDPA nearing a return to Saanich
A new version of a controversial Saanich bylaw may begin to come into focus next week. The Environmental Development Permit Area, or EDPA, was originally passed in 2012, but was rescinded five years later amid a heated debate.
The plan was always to replace that bylaw with another way to protect biodiversity on lands in Saanich, according to Mayor Dean Murdock, who originally voted against the decision to repeal.
“At the time I was convinced that it would be very challenging for us to replace,” he said. That has borne out: another five years after the bylaw was rescinded, a new plan is yet to emerge. At Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting, a technical advisory committee and a consulting firm, Diamond Head, will report to council on the state of biodiversity in Saanich and what a biodiversity strategy might look like. The next step will be the development of a biodiversity strategy; that means an actual new bylaw is a long way away.
The original EDPA put restrictions on what landowners could do in some sensitive places. But it gave some residents the impression that “their property was in effect locked down,” Murdock said, and was based on mapping that was out of date. “Without a doubt it was flawed, the way it was implemented.”
But Murdock believes the public narrative was misguided by “incorrect information” about what the bylaw really did. A registered professional biologist who wrote reports on behalf of landowners later had his professional designation revoked by the College of Applied Biologists, based on a conflict of interest and lack of due diligence in his reports.
The COP15 biodiversity conference wrapped up in Montreal last month with an agreement to stem the loss of biodiversity, in part, by taking steps toward “sustainable development.”
In the new bylaw. Murdock wants to see a balance in Saanich between development of housing, roads, and other land-altering uses and the protection of sensitive ecosystems, ultimately in order to give residents a buffer against increasingly frequent climate impacts like flooding and extreme heat.
“I think that there is an urgency around how we act,” he said.
Any new plan, however, is still just a glimmer in council’s eye.
By Jimmy Thomson
Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 January 2023 - 06:24 AM.
Posted 12 January 2023 - 08:34 AM
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