Can I bring fill onto my property in BC, or dig soil out of it?

Question

Accepted Answer

Usually, within limits: on ALR land the Agricultural Land Commission caps what moves without its approval, soil from an old industrial site needs a notice to the Province, and many councils want a permit past a set volume. Three sets of rules can apply at once. On land in the Agricultural Land Reserve, bringing in fill or taking out soil is a use the Agricultural Land Commission controls. Anywhere in BC, soil taken from a site that has had a specified industrial or commercial use must be tested and the move noticed to the Province. And a council or regional district may require a permit for depositing or removing soil, usually past a set volume. Look up the address or PID on PlaceDossier to see the record for that lot. On ALR land: No one may remove soil from or place fill on land in the reserve unless the regulation permits it, the Commission's chief executive officer approves a notice of intent, or the Commission grants an application (Agricultural Land Commission Act s. 20.3 (1)). "Fill" is any material brought onto the land, and "soil" the whole layer of loose material above the bedrock (s. 1 (1); the ALC's soil and fill page). What the ALR allows without asking: Fill or soil removal for building or keeping up a farm building or the principal residence over an area of 1,000 m² or less, with the finished level meeting any flood construction level the local government sets; flood, drainage, irrigation and livestock watering works for farming up to 320 m³ per 16 ha a year; keeping up an existing farm road up to 50 m³ per 100 m of road a year; and soil amendments worked in to 30 cm (ALR Use Regulation s. 35). Construction and demolition waste, asphalt, glass, plastics, treated wood and unchipped lumber may never be used as fill on ALR land; recycled concrete and asphalt, crushed fine, only on an existing farm road (s. 36). The notice of intent: For more than that, the owner files a notice of intent through the ALC's portal with a $150 fee before any work starts. The Commission may ask for more, approve it with conditions, or order the work not to go ahead; if it does none of these within 60 days, the work may go ahead as the notice describes (ALC Act s. 20.3 (2), (4)). The ALC treats a notice as fit for a house with more than 1,000 m² of fill (driveway and parking included) and a floor area of 500 m² or less, an additional residence, small sheds and garages, farm buildings and roads, spot filling and minor landscaping. Bulk filling, aggregate extraction and work already started go to a soil or fill use application instead, $1,500 split between the local government and the ALC (the ALC's soil and fill and fees pages). Soil from an industrial or commercial site: Anywhere in BC, soil may be removed from a site that has had a specified industrial or commercial use only once it has been analysed and a qualified professional has given the Province notice, at least a week before it moves, naming the site it goes to and the most that will be put there; the receiving site may take no more than that (Environmental Management Act s. 55 (1.1) to (1.3); Contaminated Sites Regulation s. 43). Under 30 m³ over a project's two years, from a site not classed high risk, needs no notice, nor does gravel from a Mines Act pit or preload from a clean site (s. 42 (2), (3)). A site holding more than 20,000 m³ of such soil must be registered and run under a soil management plan (ss. 45, 46). Fill of unknown origin: Fill brought in without papers can hold contamination or demolition waste, and a lot that took it can hold a problem the next owner inherits (our reading; see contaminated sites). Ask where it came from and whether it was tested. The council's or regional district's permit: A council may regulate, prohibit and set requirements for the removal and deposit of soil and other material by bylaw, and one prohibiting it by the soil's quality or contamination needs the Province's approval (Community Charter ss. 8 (3) (m), 9 (1) (e), (3)). A regional district that provides the service may do the same over all or part of its area and charge permit fees by volume (Local Government Act s. 327). Thresholds differ. Two examples: the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District's Bylaw No. 1423-2015 needs a permit in Areas A to D for 10 m³ or more a year, except work under a valid building permit, soil moved within the lot and permitted farm uses in the ALR; Coquitlam's soil bylaw covers more than 500 m³ or a grade change of more than 1 m, except landscaping under those limits and work under a building permit (its Soils Conservation Guide). Many electoral areas have no such bylaw. Next to water and on slopes: Fill near a stream, lake or wetland can fall under the setbacks there (see streamside setbacks), in a floodplain it must leave the house at the flood construction level the bylaw sets (see flood construction level), and on a slope or in a hazard development permit area a council may want a geotechnical report first (see geotechnical reports). The neighbours' side: Raising a lot can send its water onto the lot next door, and fill spilling over the line is an encroachment (our reading; see encroachment and fences). What it means for a buyer: A level pad for a house is usually within the rules; a lot you'd raise, a driveway across wet ground or a pit you'd dig may need a notice, a permit or both, with weeks of waiting. On ALR land, fill already placed without the Commission's approval can bring a remediation order on the land (ALC Act ss. 52, 52.1, our reading).

Can I bring fill onto my property in BC, or dig soil out of it?

What the answer means

Before you buy: who to ask