Can I build a seawall, add rock or sand, or pull weeds on my BC waterfront?

Question

Accepted Answer

Rarely without asking: the shore below the high water mark is Crown land, and on a lake or river new shore work needs a change approval; pulling invasive weeds needs 45 days' notice. Most of what owners want at the water's edge, a wall against erosion, rock armour, a sandy beach or a cleared swimming area, happens on or below the natural boundary. That puts it on the Province's land and, on a lake or river, in the stream the water rules protect, with the federal fish habitat rules over both. Look up the address or PID on PlaceDossier to see the record for that lot. The shore below the line: Below the natural boundary, the visible high water mark, the bed and shore are almost always Crown land (see waterfront lot lines). Building a structure or works there, or dredging, digging or filling, without the Province's authorization is an offence (Land Act s. 60 (e)), and the minister can require the work stopped and the land restored (s. 59 (1)). Fill placed there doesn't add land to the lot. A lake is a stream: The Water Sustainability Act's stream includes a lake, pond, river, creek or wetland, and its channel takes in the bed and banks both above and below the natural boundary (s. 1). Changing the land, vegetation or flow there, or working in the channel in a way that may affect it, is a change in and about a stream, allowed only under a change approval, an authorization, an order or the regulation (ss. 1, 11). Walls, rock and sand: The regulation's list of changes that need no approval doesn't include a new seawall, riprap or rock armour, or sand or gravel for a beach (Water Sustainability Regulation s. 39 (1)), so on a lake or river those take a change approval through FrontCounter BC (our reading). Repairing existing erosion protection works to their original state is on the list, if they worked the year before (s. 39 (1) (k)), after the notice below. Weeds and a swimming area: A landowner may cut annual plants in a stream channel, and control Eurasian watermilfoil and other invasive water plants by hand or machine, without an approval (s. 39 (1) (i), (m)). Each needs notice to a habitat officer at least 45 days before, and the work follows the terms the officer sets, such as a timing window; with no reply in 45 days it can go ahead (ss. 38, 44). Herbicides aren't on that list. Fish habitat: Under the federal Fisheries Act no one may carry on work that results in the death of fish or the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat without an authorization (ss. 34.4, 35). Fisheries and Oceans Canada asks owners to avoid working in water where they can, to follow its codes of practice and measures, and to request a review where they can't (its Projects near water pages). On the sea: The foreshore rule and the Fisheries Act apply on the sea as on a lake. Whether the Water Sustainability Act's stream rules reach a sea shore is unclear to us: ask FrontCounter BC before any wall, rock or beach work there. Above the water: Land beside the water may also be in a council's streamside or shoreline development permit area, or under the Riparian Areas Protection Regulation, so a wall built wholly on the lot can still need a permit first (see streamside setbacks and development permit areas). What it means for a buyer: A seawall, rock or a sandy beach in front of a lot may sit on Crown land, lack permission, or both, and an order to remove it can reach whoever holds the lot then (our reading). Ask what permission it had, and where it sits against the natural boundary.

Can I build a seawall, add rock or sand, or pull weeds on my BC waterfront?

What the answer means

Before you buy: who to ask