The Development Services department is responsible for management of all land use decisions in the Town of Oliver. Development Services promotes growth of business and residential areas, while striving to protect the interests of existing business and residences.
Necessary bylaws related to development can be obtained on our Bylaw Document Page.
Land Use Application to Council (Zoning & OCP Amendments, Development and Development Variance Permits, Temporary Use Permits, Liquor and Cannabis Consent)
Please contact the Town prior to making an application payment to determine the total cost.
The Town accepts debit, cash or cheque in person.
On-line payments are now accepted through Paymentus with a 2.5% fee. Click Here.
Are you developing, a real estate agent or purchaser looking for information on property or buildings? You may be seeking a ‘Comfort Letter’. Complete a form to request information on the Comfort Letter page. The fee is $150 for this service.
Visit the Current Planning Applications.
Amending the OCP land use designation of an individual piece of property is rarely done on its own, but is jointly considered with a zoning amendment. In these cases, the procedures outlined below would be followed, with the exception that two bylaws would be considered at the same time.
The fee for such a joint OCP/Zoning Amendment Application is $1750, except in rare circumstances where a complex application requiring extensive study may incur an application fee of $3,500.
Where a “stand-alone” OCP change is applied for, the fee is $1250. The procedure would be as follows:
- Contact the Development Services department to schedule a pre-application meeting with Staff (250-485-6200).
- Submit a complete application form with the required fee.
- The application is referred to various internal and external departments for comments and any items to address prior to the application being scheduled for Council.
- Staff will prepare a report to council to describe your proposal and its anticipated impacts, along with a recommendation.
- If the bylaw amendment is accepted in principle by council, they may give first and second readings to the bylaw
- Changing the OCP designation of a property will often impact the nature of the surrounding neighbourhood. Thus, all OCP changes are advertised and the public is given an opportunity to voice their opinions to council at a public hearing. The public hearing is normally held two weeks after the meeting at which first and second reading of the bylaw were given. Notice of the public hearing is placed in two consecutive issues of a local newspaper and sent to all property owners and tenants in occupation within 100 metres of the affected property. Staff may prepare a report with supplementary information to council.
- At the Council meeting after the public hearing, council may give third reading and final adoption to the amending bylaw.
- Council may abandon the bylaw at any time and in effect refuse your application.
Read our Land Use Bylaws.
Development Services is regularly involved in special projects and long range planning initiatives.
Site Identification Process
Only properties with a history of specified industrial and commercial uses are impacted by this process.
Specified industrial and commercial uses
Schedule 2 of the Contaminated Sites Regulation (CSR) provides a comprehensive list of industrial and commercial uses, organized by category, that have the potential to cause contamination at a property.
This Schedule is used to determine if a site disclosure statement is required at certain trigger points. For more information go to BC Government Site.
Subdivision of Land
A Subdivision is the legal mechanism used to create new parcels of land. The most common types of subdivisions is to split an existing parcel into two or more parcels or to adjust an existing property line between parcels. The application fee for a subdivision is $400 plus $100 per new parcel, or $400 plus $25 for each parcel requiring a boundary adjustment. This fee is payable at the time of application.
In addition to fees and servicing costs payable to the Town, applicants are responsible for all surveying costs, Land Title Office fees and fees payable to outside utility companies for serving the new subdivision.
The procedures leading to subdivision approval are outlined below:
- Contact a BC Land Surveyor to prepare a Preliminary Sketch plan. The plan must show existing and proposed lot lines, lot areas, existing buildings and setbacks from property lines and all other relevant features.
- Submit the Preliminary Sketch Plan along with a completed Subdivision Application Form.
- Town Staff will process the application and refer it to various internal and external agencies for comment.
- After this process, a PSC (Preliminary Statement of Conditions) letter may be issued, with conditions that must be met prior to final approval. Some examples of typical conditions include:
- Payment of development cost charges pursuant to Bylaw 1172.
- Receipt of assurances from gas, telephone, power and cable television companies that arrangements for servicing have been made and that any payment due has been received.
- Registration of any rights-of-way or covenants that may be required.
- Dedication of a portion of the property as roadway.
- Payment for servicing each new lot with water and sewer.
- Payment for construction of all off-site surface works required such as curb, gutter, sidewalk, street lights, fire hydrants, drainage improvements, and road works etc.
- Once the requirements of the PSC have been met and other conditions required by the Approving Officer, you may have a legal surveyor present plans for examination and signature. When the plans are signed, your legal surveyor or lawyer will send the plan to Kamloops for registration at the Land Titles Office. This completes the process.
Note that with smaller subdivisions, servicing work is normally done by the Town and charged to the developer. On larger subdivisions, the developer has the option of hiring his or her own engineer and contractor to design and install the works to municipal standards.
Subdivision of Buildings
There are three scenarios possible for subdivision of buildings into strata (condominium) units. The simplest case is a one-step (i.e. un-phased) creation of a strata subdivision in a building that has not previously been occupied as a residence. This type of application is exempt from municipal regulation and no application is required to the Town. Simply have your solicitor submit all required forms to the Land Title Office.
If any building subdivision is being created in more than one phase, approval of the phasing plan and each phase thereof is required by the subdivision Approving Officer. In addition to requiring services to be complete for each phase, the subdivision Approving Officer is required to certify that any proposed common facilities are completed at each phase or otherwise provided for (usually with a security deposit).
The steps for a phased strata subdivision follows a process similar to a normal subdivision of land, but with the added requirement that the anticipated phasing of the project be outlined in detail.
If a previously-occupied, multi-unit residential building is proposed to be converted to a strata condominium, a subdivision application is required. Municipal Council is the approving authority on such applications, unless such authority has been delegated to a staff member.
With such conversion applications, consideration must be given to the building’s compliance with municipal bylaws and the BC Building Code, as well as to the availability of rental and other affordable housing in the community.
Subdivision & Development Servicing Bylaw 1300
Subdivision and Development Standards Design Manual (r)- Oliver
Zoning Bylaw
The Zoning Bylaw provides most of the tools to implement the OCP policies. The Zoning Bylaw designates different land use zones in the municipality and very specifically sets out the types of uses permitted in each. It also sets out specific development parameters such as density, building setbacks from property lines, maximum building heights, lot site coverage, parking, etc.
Construction of a particular development proposal cannot proceed contrary to the Zoning Bylaw. However, council can amend the Zoning Bylaw to facilitate a development proposal. As with the OCP, however, changes to the Zoning Bylaw can only proceed following a public hearing. The Local Government Act of British Columbia sets out specific requirements for advertising and notices related to Zoning Bylaw amendments. These are further clarified by the Town’s Land Use Procedures Bylaw.
Read Zoning Bylaw 1380.
Zoning Amendments
Rezoning a property requires an amendment to the Town’s Zoning Bylaw, which can only be approved by the elected council. For properties within 800 m of Highway 97, the rezoning bylaw must also receive approval from the Ministry of Transportation and Highways, pursuant to the Highway Act.
Council will not generally consider a rezoning application unless a specific development or subdivision is contemplated, and preliminary plans of the proposed development must accompany the rezoning application. Even if approved in principle, final adoption of the zoning bylaw is usually withheld until all conditions of the bylaw or the associated development permit are met.
A step by step description of the process is as follows:
- Contact the Development Services department to schedule a pre-application meeting with Staff (250-485-6200).
- Submit a complete application form with the required fee.
- The application is referred to various internal and external departments for comments and any items to address prior to the application being scheduled for Council.
- Staff will prepare a report to council to describe your proposal and its anticipated impacts, along with a recommendation.
- If the bylaw amendment is accepted in principle by council, they may give first and second readings to the bylaw.
- Changing the zoning designation of a property will often impact the nature of the surrounding neighbourhood. Thus, all zoning changes are advertised and the public is given an opportunity to voice their opinions to council at a public hearing. The public hearing is normally held two weeks after the meeting at which first and second reading of the bylaw were given. Notice of the public hearing is placed in two consecutive issues of a local newspaper and sent to all property owners and tenants in occupation within 100 metres of the affected property. Staff may prepare a report with supplementary information to council.
- At the Council meeting after the public hearing, council may give third reading and final adoption to the amending bylaw. The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure may be required to sign off on the bylaw prior to adoption.
- Council may abandon the bylaw at any time and in effect refuse your application.