Identifying and disclosing sites that may be contaminated
Last updated on January 22, 2026
Various commercial and industrial activities have potential to cause contamination at a site. Many of these uses are found in Schedule 2 of the Contaminated Sites Regulation. The site identification process ensures these activities are disclosed at certain points of a site’s lifecycle. For example, when decommissioning or redeveloping a site.
If a site is contaminated, it needs to be cleaned up, or remediated, before it can be redeveloped and used for another purpose.
For information about who is responsible for paying remediation costs
- Consult the Environmental Management Act, Division 3 – Liability for Remediation and Contaminated Sites Regulation, Part 7 - Liability
- Get advice from an environmental professional familiar with contaminated site legislation
On this page
- Determine if you need to submit a Site Disclosure Statement
- How to complete a Site Disclosure Statement
- Conduct a site investigation
Determine if you need to complete a Site Disclosure Statement
Municipalities and approving officers have administrative duties in relation to Site Disclosure Statements. If you work for a municipality or an approving authority, find information for approving authorities.
A Site Disclosure Statement is required if:
- A site has been used for one of the industrial or commercial uses listed in Schedule 2: Contaminated Sites Regulation
and you are:
- Selling a property
- Applying to a municipality or approving officer for a permit or approval
- Decommissioning or ceasing operations on a site
- Involved in insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings
- In foreclosure or receivership of a site
- Ordered to by a director
A statement is not required if:
- The site has never had a Schedule 2 use
- A building or development permit application will not involve soil disturbance
- An exemption applies to the site
Read more:
- Section 40 of the Environmental Management Act
- Section 2.1 of Contaminated Sites Regulation (CSR)
- Section 2.2, Division 1 of Contaminated Sites Regulation (CSR)
Find out if a site has had Schedule 2 commercial or industrial use
Look-up site info
Find historical records about a site:
- Search the Site Registry
- Contact previous site owners or the local government for records about the site. Inspect buildings, property, equipment, land, surface water and vegetation to look for evidence that a Schedule 2 use has happened on the site
- Review historical aerial photos and land title records
If you need help looking up historical information or conducting inspections for Schedule 2 uses at your site, an environmental professional can help.
Review site uses
Review Schedule 2: Contaminated Sites Regulation to determine whether your site has had a listed use.
- Schedule 2 uses are only meant to represent commercial and industrial uses that could cause contamination. For example, a private resident completing maintenance and occasional repair of vehicles for personal use is not considered a Schedule 2 use.
- If a commercial activity takes place on residential or agricultural land, regardless of municipal zoning, the activity must be declared as a Schedule 2 use when completing a Site Disclosure Statement
Consider the following to determine if a Schedule 2 use applies:
- Intent of the legislation and context provided in Schedule 2 (read both the category heading and individual item descriptions together)
- Information gathered from historical searches and site visits
- Main or core uses of the site and activities that were done in support of the main uses. It is possible to have an area of potential environmental concern without having a corresponding Schedule 2 use.
- If uses at the site happened at a scale that could have resulted in contamination
Qualified professionals should use their professional judgement when determining Schedule 2 uses.
Before completing a Site Disclosure Statement
Some sites with a history of Schedule 2 use are exempt from submitting a Site Disclosure Statement.
- Review the list of exemptions in Division 3 of the Contaminated Sites Regulation
​Note: Even if exempt, local governments may still request a completed SDS. If this happens, complete the fillable SDS form and submit it to the approving authority's email.
How to complete a Site Disclosure Statement
Complete a Site Disclosure Statement online.
Use the Person completing Site Disclosure Statement section to authorize someone else to complete the statement. The owner or operator must still make sure the Site Disclosure Statement is completed accurately and sign the statement.
If a site has more than 1 parcel with a Schedule 2 use, only 1 Site Disclosure Statement is required. Describe the individual parcels on the statement.
To complete the Site Disclosure Statement, you will need:
- The site's street address, or if no address has been assigned, the nearest street name or intersection
- Latitude and longitude coordinates for the centre of the site, accurate to 0.5 of a second. For help with this, check municipal websites, iMapBC, ParcelMap BC or Google Earth
- An electronic site map of appropriate scale to show site location and boundaries. Showing site features is also encouraged but not required. You can use a legal site survey map, or maps from municipal websites, iMapBC, ParcelMap BC or Google Earth
- The site parcel identifier (PID) and associated legal description for each parcel where a Schedule 2 use has occurred. Find PIDs on municipal property tax statements, or online using the BC Assessment website or the BC Land Title and Survey website. If no PID has been assigned for a site, look-up information on Crown lands using the Government Access Tool for Online Retrieval (GATOR)
- Information about planned future uses for the site and what searches were completed to determine how the site was used in the past
Submit the statement
If you're selling a property
Give the prospective buyer a copy of the Site Disclosure Statement. You can complete a copy of the statement for a buyer, online. Do not submit this to the ministry as it will not be processed.
Submit your Site Disclosure Statement to the site's approving authority, either the municipality if you're applying for zoning, building or development permits, or the approving officer if you're applying for subdivision.
Within 15 days of receiving a Site Disclosure Statement, the approving authority will determine whether it’s required and if it's completed properly. If you make a revision to your Site Disclosure Statement, 15 days is counted from the time the approving authority receives your updated version.
Once the Site Disclosure Statement is complete, the approving authority will:
- Complete the Approving authority contact information section of the Site Disclosure Statement
- Email the Site Disclosure Statement and site map to SiteID@gov.bc.ca
- Notify you that the Site Disclosure Statement has been forwarded to the ministry
Restrictions on municipal applications
Submitting a Site Disclosure Statement to the ministry activates restrictions on approval of municipal applications under the following local government laws:
- Land Title Act: Section 85.1 (for subdivision)
- Local Government Act: Section 557
- Vancouver Charter: Section 571B
- Islands Trust Act: Section 34.1
To remove a restriction, you need to apply for and obtain one of these ministry documents and give it to the approving authority:
- A certification document
- The certification document must be valid and relevant to the proposed future development
- A release notice
An environmental professional can give advice about which of these documents is the best option for your site.
Submit your Site Disclosure Statement to the ministry at SiteID@gov.bc.ca within 6 months of decommissioning or ceasing operations at the site.
For all other reasons
Submit your Site Disclosure Statement to the ministry at SiteID@gov.bc.ca if you're:
- Decommissioning or ceasing operations on a site
- Involved in insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings
- In foreclosure or receivership of a site
- Ordered to by a director
Conduct a site investigation
The CSR specifies timelines for completing site investigations, prescribes when reports must be submitted to the director and allows for exemptions from the site investigation requirements.
For more information, review: Contaminated Sites Regulation: Division 6.
Within the first year after submitting a Site Disclosure Statement, complete a site investigation and submit a Site Risk Classification Report to the ministry (unless the director gives a different timeframe).
If you're applying to a municipality or approving officer
There is no timeline in which site investigations must be completed, but site investigation may be required if you apply for a certification document or release notice to remove restrictions on relevant applications.