Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Building Act Update for Local Governments

Courtesy of the Union of BC Municipalities:

In June, the Office of Housing & Construction Standards released the document Changes for Local Governments Under Section 5 of the Building Act, which includes an explanation of restricted and unrestricted matters under the Act.

The following issues have been classified as unrestricted matters. This means that local governments have the authority to set their own building requirements in bylaws.

* Fire access route design
* Matters that fall under the local government’s land use and planning authority (parking spaces for people with disabilities and development permit areas)

* District energy systems and connections

In addition, the document includes a list of temporarily unrestricted matters. It appears that these matters are still under review by the Province, and will no longer be unrestricted once the matter is addressed by a provincial requirement. Temporarily unrestricted matters include:

* Transmission of sound into a building from external sources
* In-building radio repeaters
* Exterior design and finish of buildings in relation to wildfire hazard within a Development Permit Area

For more information, refer to the Building Act Guide or contact the Province by email.

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