Special permit bylaw passes to regulate large gatherings
By Timothy Schafer Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The frightening threat of wildfire evacuation of over 10,000 people through one road at the Shambhala Music Festival in 2017 has brought focus and legislation six years later to the regional district.
The regional district board of directors has finally passed and enacted a special permit bylaw, giving the Regional District of Central Kootenay an additional tool to minimize disruption to local residents when large events are held nearby.
The bylaw had been an outstanding work plan item since 2017, said Mike Morrison, RDCK manager of Corporate Administration in his report to the board.
“Consideration of the bylaw was originally driven by the RDCK narrowly avoiding having to evacuate the Shambhala music festival in 2017 due to an approaching wildfire,” he said, adding that after Shambhala constructed an alternate access and egress route to festival site in 2018 there was no longer a pressing reason to regulate the area.
Although the bylaw was intended to include all electoral areas in its original format, the scope of bylaw participants was reduced to only Area H when it was finally passed. Area H director Walter Popoff had requested the bylaw be brought forward so that it was in place for the 2022 summer event season.
The follow up
Enforcement of the bylaw will be a concern moving forward, Morrison explained.
“Staff have raised concerns regarding the human resources required to administer and enforce the bylaw relative to the limited expected benefits from enacting the bylaw,” he said in his report.
It is likely that regional district enforcement may be limited to actions taken after an event has occurred. Morrison noted the bylaw enforcement group would investigate and undertake enforcement actions against non-compliant event operators after an event because RDCK bylaw officers do not work on weekends when events would occur — which limits the ability of the RDCK to undertake bylaw enforcement work.
“Further, in determining if special events are a regulatory and enforcement priority, directors should consider the increased service demands experienced by RDCK bylaw officers through the pandemic period,” he said.
Morrison said the task of enforcing the regulations would not fall just to regional district bylaw officers.
“For safety reasons staff would not attend an event without RCMP support, and the extent to which the RCMP would be available and willing to support RDCK staff or respond to an event is not known,” he wrote.
“It is uncertain whether the $1,000 maximum ticket issuable under the Municipal Ticketing Information bylaw would provide enough of a deterrent to drive bylaw compliance, nor is it certain that the board would commit the funds to pursue prosecution under the Offence Act.”
Small sampling size
There are a limited number of events captured by the bylaw this year so the adherence of the public to the new legislation will not be immediately known, said Morrison.
“Staff are not aware of currently confirmed events in 2022 that would be captured under the proposed bylaw, but there are quite likely properties within Area H where large events may be planned in the future,” he said.
“If event organizers do not pursue compliance with the bylaw, RDCK involvement would be limited to post-event enforcement. It is also likely that some relatively small and nuisance-free events exceeding the 200 participant threshold in the bylaw would require an event permit.”
He explained that although the chief administrative officer for the regional district would be delegated the authority to waive permit requirements, staff time would still be required to work through the unique circumstances of each event.
