CVRD COMPREHENSIVE ZONING BYLAW — A ditch suddenly matters a lot more than you think
I’ve been reading through the draft zoning bylaw, and something small jumped out — but it’s actually not small at all.
DITCHES Under the CZB definitions, a ditch is considered a stream — whether it contains water or not.
What’s important to understand is that in the current zoning bylaws for AREA I and all areas, ditches weren’t considered at all. There’s no definition, no specific mention, and no setback tied to them, no restrictions. This is entirely NEW.
Under the March 16, 2026 draft CZB, ditches now have a 5 metre setback — something that was never a consideration before the CVRD Official Community Plan. That’s 5 metres on each side, meaning a 10 metre (32 ft) strip of your property becomes restricted.
No structures, fences, tanks, septic systems, or wells — even if it’s just a simple, usually dry drainage swale.
To put that in perspective, this setback is wider than most residential side yard setbacks in the CZB (typically 3m interior and 4.5m exterior). A ditch on your property — or between two properties — can now restrict more usable land than the distance between neighbouring homes.
And because the ditches are defined as streams in the CZB, they trigger Level 1 Riparian Protection requirements (as shown in the riparian policy tables). So this isn’t just a setback — it can also mean environmental reports, permits, and additional restrictions.
A quick check of the BC Government Riparian Areas Protection Regulation shows that ditches are already addressed at the provincial level — Non fish-bearing ditches are generally subject to about a 2 metre consideration for vegetation and shade.
In other words, the Province already has clear rules on how ditches are treated.
The concern here is that the CZB goes well beyond that — effectively wading (pardon the pun) into an area outside local jurisdiction and beyond what the BC government requires — an area not previously regulated by the CVRD, and now requiring CVRD staff to implement and review.
That means:
- more work for staff
- more people needed to manage it
- more cost to taxpayers
- more cost to landowners, QEP reports, loss of viable land
- more time waiting on permits
In short — just a whole lot more of everything… for what used to simply be a ditch.
And while this may not have much impact on a typical urban lot, the impact on rural and semi-rural residents is significant and disproportionate — where ditches are common and properties rely on flexible use of land for homes, septic, access, and outbuildings.
So how are residents supposed to make sense of this — are we just expected to accept it as another layer of new restrictions being driven by the OCP?
This is one of those changes that’s easy to miss, but once it’s in place, it applies everywhere.
