As many AIBC members and other registrants know, section 5 of the Building Act comes into force in 2017. Section 5 articulates that if a matter is regulated in a provincial building regulation, e.g., the BC Building Code, then any requirements for that matter established in local government bylaws will be of no legal force on December 15, 2017. The objective of section 5 is to bring greater consistency to the technical building requirements in force across British Columbia.
The Province recognizes the goal of greater consistency needs to be balanced against reasonable flexibility for local governments to set technical building requirements to meet local needs: requesting a local authority variation is one option for local governments to do so. The application for requesting a local authority variation under section 7 of the Building Act is now available on the Building Act website. An application guide is also available.
A local authority/local government variation is:
- A technical building requirement or set of requirements that differs from a requirement in provincial building regulations;
- Requested by a local authority or group of local authorities who wish to enforce the requirement within their jurisdiction(s);
- Subject to Minister approval; and, if approved,
- Enacted though a provincial building regulation that applies in the jurisdictions of the local authority(s) making the request.
If you have questions about the Building Act, please see the Building Act website (www.gov.bc.ca/buildingact) or contact Dale Andersson in the Building and Safety Standards Branch at Dale.Andersson@gov.bc.ca.
Flag photo (featured image for this article) by Kyle Pearce.