In a nutshell......

Under new provincial legislation adopted by most larger municipalities in BC, landowners are now required to have a Riparian Areas Regulation (RAR) assessment completed for all works including land alteration and tree cutting within 30m of a waterbody.  The assessment is completed by Qualified Environmental Professional (QEP) hired by the landowner.  QEP's include Registered Professional Biologist (R.P. Bio.), Engineers as well as other experts relevant to the task at hand.  Depending on the size of the waterbody, assessments can take a few hours of field time to much longer excursions.  Once fieldwork is completed, a report is generated and uploaded to the Ministry of Environment (MoE).  The Ministry then audits the report and submits notification to the relevant municipality accepting and/or declining the report.  A report that has not been accepted generally requires more detail from the assessor. Once accepted, the land owner and representatives deal solely with the municipality in finalizing works planned.  It is important to note however that the RAR assessment deals solely with those area identified as being above the High Water Mark (HWM).  Areas below the HWM i.e. culvert installation, instream works etc. require further approval from both MoE and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).  This generally takes the form of a Notification and/or Application to the agencies listed above.  Finally, landowners also have to navigate the municipal level of permits which may include soil deposit/removal permits, development permit applications (DPA) (which may include works being contemplated on steep slopes, riparian areas etc.), as well as development variance permits (DVP) which include wanting to do something outside of local bylaws.  These include for example, building a house within 30m of a waterbody when the bylaws in place do not allow buildings to be constructed within 30m.