Soil Removal and Deposit Bylaw – DRAFT
260108 – The EASC has brought forward the long awaited revised RDCO Electoral Area Soil Deposit and Removal Bylaw. This version 6.1 Draft Soil Removal and Deposit Bylaw is to seek the Committee’s feedback on a proposed draft Soil Removal and Deposit Bylaw for Central Okanagan Electoral Area West and Central Okanagan Electoral Area East and to seek endorsement to bring forward a draft bylaw to the Regional District Board.
Draft Soil Removal and Deposit Bylaw.pdf
1 – Draft Soil Removal and Deposit Bylaw No. 1575.pdf
2. Comparison of Soil Bylaws Table.pdf
This motion received unanimous consent and will move to the full Board for discussion and hopefully all three readings on Jan 22 2026. Join us live for that meeting at RDCO.com @ 08:30 AM
Recommendation:
THAT the Electoral Area Services Committee recommends that the Regional Board proceed with three readings and the adoption of the draft Soil Removal and Deposit Bylaw No. 1575, along with associated amendments to companion bylaws related to the Soil Removal and Deposit Bylaw. Past Unanimously
This version is a one year pilot project to ensure that we have it right and have covered all our bases.
250116 – The staff has developed a Soil Deposit and Removal Bylaw plan at the request of Director Kraft the EA Director for the Eastside of RDCO. Due to the number and size of the high-rises in Kelowna there is 1000’s of dump trucks with the dirt from the excavations needed to put up buildings many of which are in excess of 30 floors. That’s a lot of dirt and it needs to go somewhere; but not just somewhere it needs to be close because of transportation costs. As there is no RDCO Bylaw to regulate this problem EA East has become a dumping ground for a lot of this material. I have been in support of this bylaw development as it could become a problem for EA West if West Kelowna or WFN decided to go vertical and start building a lot of tall buildings.
On January 16 2025 at a Regular Board Meeting the cost associated with the plan Staff put forward were presented to the Board for consideration. The discussion starts at 36:20 and goes to 1:04:00 where the Bylaw was put on hold for further development. If you live in Killiney or Westshore there is an explanation as to why there are no generator ready switches on our pump stations for the water systems at about the 47:00 minute mark.
Why did both EA Directors not support this initiative? The tax implications for this service would have seen $70.00+ for the an EA West average priced home and $38.00+ for an EA East average priced home. The municipalities were charged less that $5.00 per averaged priced homes. We both felt that this was unfair distribution of costs. The solution and it’s cost should go to the dumper NOT the dumpee.
Staff will try again but it will not impact this budget. The removal of this soils initiative from the budget has decreased the EA West tax increase by half possibly a little more.