eos COUNC AUG 28 1978 Mayor and Council August 25th, 1978 L.D. Pollock City Administrator Re: Soil Conservation Act The Provincial Soils Conservation Act passed in 1977 controls the removal of soil or the placing of £111 on land in the Agricultural Land Reserve areas. Permission to remove or place fill requires approval from the Provincial Land Commission and a permit from the Local Authority. Under the Act, the Local Authority is the Regional District in which the land is located, however there is a provision whereby the municipality can give notice to the Regional Board that it wishes to be the Local Authority. As Local Authority, the municipality would be responsible for processing applications, collecting the permit fee, and forwarding the application to the Land Commission. After approval by the Land Commission, we would be responsible for issuing the permit and, I assume, be responsible for enforcement within our area, although there is provision in the Act for the Lane Commission to appoint Inspectors to also enforce the provisions of the Act. In view of the fact that the Regional District is officially the Local Authority under the Act, they have contacted us to see if we wish them to act on our behalf, or whether we wish to become our own Local Authority and they would like Council's decision on this question. It occurred to.me that as there ‘are so few applications in the course of a year, and that we do have our own Soils Removal By-law to deal with, that we might just as well act as Local Authority and appoint the City Engineer to administer both pieces of legislation. It might avoid the situation where a person obtains a permit from the. Land Commission and proceeds to remove soil without obtaining the necessary approvals under our own Soils Removal. By-law. I would therefore suggest that we notify the Regional District that we wish to be the Local Authority and that we appoint Fred Peters, City Engineer, as the Officer within the City to administer and enforce the Act and Regulations. aE OS EOE Norm L.D. Pollock