As a public health prohibition on gatherings of more than 50 people enters its fourth week, ambiguity prevails about how to move forward with an essential step in the local democratic process – public hearings.
So far, at least one public hearing has been impacted by COVID-19 – an April 21 hearing for changes to the Sunshine Coast Regional District’s (SCRD) short-term rental bylaws has been postponed.
At an April 9 board meeting, planning general manager Ian Hall said the postponement was due to public health orders and “associated advice from the Municipal Insurance Association and other legal bodies.”
The issue was also raised at the meeting by Nicole Huska, who has been working on a development proposal for Halfmoon Bay. She was expecting a public hearing this spring.
Public hearings are used to balance the power of elected officials who can determine how land is used in their jurisdiction, and are required when changes are proposed for official community plans and zoning bylaws among other bylaw changes, according to a government website definition.
Normally, property owners who could be impacted by those changes are granted the opportunity to speak in person to elected officials at a hearing or provide a written submission as part of the proceedings.
In light of COVID-19 restrictions, the province published procedural guidelines, which suggest “local governments will need to think carefully about whether in some cases, delay … is the most appropriate and practical approach,” but that property owners “must continue to be provided a reasonable opportunity to be heard, which can include written submissions.”
Additional guidance in the near term would also be provided, according to the province.
But in the absence of that additional guidance, it appears local governments are choosing their own course of action, including on the Sunshine Coast.
Both SCRD chair Lori Pratt and Sechelt Mayor Darnelda Siegers were on a local government call last week with Municipal Affairs Minister Selina Robinson, who told them that Abbotsford and Surrey have conducted public hearings with the orders in place.
“They’ve been a little creative with going into larger venues in order to keep the physical distancing,” Pratt said, and they kept under the 50-person limit outlined in the mass gathering public health order.
Siegers said another municipality had used a teleconference format.
But SCRD staff told directors that video conferencing software such as Zoom couldn’t be used because the format doesn’t meet the legislative requirements laid out in the Local Government Act.
Meanwhile, the Town of Gibsons held a public hearing March 17, a day after the mass gathering order went into effect. Limited seating was available in the council chambers and at least one person, Mayor Bill Beamish, phoned in to the meeting.
The Town’s next public hearing is scheduled for April 21 and so far it hasn’t been cancelled. Communications coordinator Elizabeth Quayle said the Town had heard an order from the province was expected that would permit electronic public hearings. In the meantime, staff will be asking council for direction, she said, which could include the solution of holding gatherings at larger venues. “As the majority of the Town’s public hearings are sparsely attended, this could be possible in council chambers, or by renting a large space,” she said.
No public hearings had been scheduled for the District of Sechelt in March and none are planned for April, so far, but communications manager Julie Rogers said they do expect some in the following months and will be following “the approach we have been using for council meetings with live-streaming and include the ability for people to phone in their statements or email them ahead of the meeting.”
The municipal affairs ministry said in a statement to Coast Reporter that “ministry staff are developing guidance for local governments to help them navigate public hearings during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the meantime, we encourage local governments to consider whether it may be appropriate to waive public hearings where they are not legally required.”
