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Board of Variance Bylaw No. 958, 2012

This page was last reviewed on November 28, 2023.

A bylaw to establish a Board of Variance and the procedures and fees for appeals.

WHEREAS pursuant to the Local Government Act a municipality that has enacted a zoning bylaw is required to establish a Board of Variance;

NOW THEREFORE the Council of the Village of Cumberland, in open meeting assembled, enacts as follows:

1. Title

This bylaw may be cited for all purposes as the ‘Corporation of the Village of Cumberland Board of Variance Bylaw No. 958, 2012.’

2. Applicability

This bylaw is applicable to all lands and surface of the water within the Village of Cumberland that are subject to the zoning bylaw of the Village.

3. Definitions

The context meaning of terms contained in this Bylaw and not defined herein, are to be determined in accordance with firstly, in the ‘Corporation of the Village of Cumberland Zoning Bylaw No. 717, 1997,’ as amended from time to time and secondly in the Interpretation Act and thirdly in the Canadian Oxford dictionary.

Council means the Council of the Corporation of the Village of Cumberland.
Inactive means any application that remains incomplete, or during processing, becomes dormant due to an applicant’s deficiency in fulfilling the requests/requirements of staff or Council. If the reason for the period of “inactivity” can be communicated to staff or Council, the time period is extended before a file is considered abandoned and closed.
Owner means a person registered in the land registry records as owner of land or of a charge on land, whether entitled to it in his/her own right or in a representative capacity or otherwise.
Village means, as the context requires, the Corporation of the Village of Cumberland, or the area within the boundaries of the Village of Cumberland.

4. Establishment of the Board of Variance

  1. There shall be established, pursuant to the Local Government Act, a Board of Variance for the Village, consisting of three members appointed by Council.
  2. The term of appointment shall be three years or until a successor is appointed by Council.
  3. Council may remove an appointee at any time.
  4. The members so appointed shall elect one of their members as Chairperson. The Chairperson may appoint another member to be Acting Chairperson in his absence.
  5. A quorum of the Board shall be any two members.

5. Secretary

  1. The Council shall appoint a Secretary to the Board of Variance. The Secretary will be responsible for:
  2. Receiving Notices of Appeals to the Board.
  3. Arranging meetings, preparing reports, taking minutes of meetings, record keeping as is required for the Board
  4. Prepares a year end report for Council which includes a review of past activities and financial and policy implications of the Board’s work plan (if any).

6. Meetings

  1. The time and date of meetings shall be scheduled as required in consultation with the members of the Board upon receipt of a Notice of Appeal.
  2. Meetings must be held within 45 days of the receipt of a Notice of Appeal.
  3. Except where the provisions of section 90 of the Community Charter apply, all meetings must be open to the public.
  4. With the exception of those meetings where provisions of section 90 of the Community Charter apply, minutes of meetings must be open for public inspection at the Village Office during its regular office hours.

7. Notices of Appeal

  1. An application shall be completed upon a form provided by the Village which then shall be delivered to the Secretary together with such additional plans and particulars as may be required. The application is considered as being accepted when all the required information (including fees) has been received.
  2. Each legal parcel shall be considered as a separate application, unless otherwise determined by the Board of Variance.

8. Abandoned Appeals

A Notice of Appeal which has been inactive for more than six months is deemed to be abandoned and will be closed. The applicant has the right to request that the Chairperson of the Board grant an extension of up to one year, and if granted additional fees, noted as follows, apply.

9. Notification

The Secretary shall ensure notification that a Notice of Appeal will be considered by the Board of Variance by mailing or otherwise delivering to the owners of all properties within a 75.0metre (246.0feet) radius of the lot lines of the land involved under application at least 10 days before consideration by the Board.

10. Fees

Notices of Appeal to the Board of Variance to Vary

Siting, size or dimensions of a building or structure

$350

Siting of a manufactured home in a manufactured home park

$350

Subdivision Servicing Requirements

$500

Structural Alteration or Addition for a Non-conforming Use

$350

Extent of damage as determined by Building Inspector

$450
+ Plus a fee to reimburse the Village (at cost) for Peer Review of (such as but not limited to) legal, engineering, environmental, architectural plans, studies, and/or documents. The applicant will be advised in writing of the amount outstanding and will be provided with an accounting of the costs incurred. Payment of these fees will be a condition that will be met prior to granting the Order.
Extension to Appeal $100
Amendment to Order $200
Refund Less 30% before preparation of report to Board
No refund after notification to adjacent neighbours.
Fees do not include other documents such as covenants, ROW’s, etc. The cost of retrieving these from LTO shall be borne by the applicant.

11. Application Requirements

  1. The completed application form which includes authorizing signatures of the owner and/or agent.
  2. Title search for the subject property dated no more than 10 days prior to the date of application. Where the property is owned by a company, a Corporate Search which shows the company’s principals must be included. Where a company name is not registered the application must be made in an individual’s name.
  3. A Surveyors Certificate prepared by BCLS Surveyor will be required where the requested variance is for existing development on the subject property.
  4. A Site plan which contains the following minimum information about the subject property:
    1. Location map, including neighbouring land uses;
    2. Existing and proposed buildings in relation to legal property boundaries with dimensions and areas;
    3. Significant physical features and topographic information, all existing watercourses and wetlands, and all Sensitive Ecosystem Information;
    4. North arrow and drawing scale;
    5. Geodetic elevation;
    6. Roads and access.

12. Severability

If any part of this bylaw is found to be invalid it may be severed without affecting the validity of the balance of the bylaw.

13. Repeal

The following bylaws are repealed in their entirety upon adoption of this Bylaw:

  1. ‘Village of Cumberland Board of Variance Bylaw No. 650, 1993’; and
  2. ‘The Corporation of the Village of Cumberland Board of Variance Bylaw No. 815, 2005’

Read a first time this 23rd day of January, 2012.

Read a second time this 23rd day of January, 2012.

Read a third time this 23rd day of January, 2012.

Adopted this 13th day of February, 2012.

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