When an applicant with a commercial or industrial use site applies for zoning, subdivision, or development and building permits, they may need to submit a Site Disclosure Statement to the municipality and/or approving officer.
The Environmental Management Act (EMA) and Contaminated Sites Regulation (CSR) assign administrative duties to municipalities and approving officers in relation to Site Disclosure Statements.
Within 15 days of receiving a Site Disclosure Statement, municipalities or approving officers must review it to determine if it is required.
Applicants must submit a Site Disclosure Statement if:
If the applicant believes an exemption applies, they should submit an initial Site Disclosure Statement that shows the type of exemption, and include supporting documentation that shows how it applies.
The ministry doesn’t approve exemptions. It is up to the municipality or approving officer to determine whether an exemption applies:
If an exemption request falls under CSR 4 (1), and a certification document (an Approval in Principle, Certificate of Compliance or Determination that the site is not a contaminated site) has already been issued by the ministry:
If an exemption applies:
Review the statement to make sure:
If the statement is not complete, return it to the applicant to revise and resubmit. 15 days is counted from the time the municipality receives the updated version.
If the municipality or approving officer disagrees with the information on the statement:
Municipalities and approving officers may charge up to $100 per Site Disclosure Statement submitted to offset their administration costs.
Municipalities and approving officers can't approve applications listed on a Site Disclosure Statement that's submitted to the ministry until restrictions are removed according to local government laws.
To remove restrictions, the applicant must provide one of the following official ministry documents to the municipality or approving officer:
A release notice only applies to the specific applications identified in the notice.
Municipalities and approving officers need to confirm that ministry documents are relevant to the proposed land use. For more information, you can:
As administrators of the site identification process for the B.C. government, municipalities and approving authorities will not be held liable for relying on official ministry documents. Read more: Section 61 of Environmental Management Act.