Six resolutions from the District of Saanich will be debated at the annual conference of the Union of B.C. Municipalities in Victoria this fall, including one calling for B.C. to adopt European standards that allow for less-costly smaller elevators in mid-rise buildings.
Another would enshrine housing as a human right in B.C. while a third would establish an opt-in lobbyist registry for municipalities.
Those three resolutions will be bundled with the three passed last week that call for a provincial default speed limit of 30 km/h on roads without a centre line; for the name of the Motor Vehicle Act to be changed to the Road Safety Act; and for municipalities to have the power to adopt a default speed limit for roads without speed signs within municipal boundaries.
The lobbyist-registry idea has been kicked around the Saanich council table for a while, but was deemed too cumbersome and expensive for the district to tackle on its own.
“We also heard from the province that they’re not enforceable and that’s a problem,” said Coun. Teale Phelps Bondaroff. “A provincially administered opt-in lobbyist registry would be enforceable and that would obviate any of the concerns we had around that aspect.”
The idea behind a municipal lobbyist registry, administered by the province, is to promote transparency in lobbying and government decision-making.
“Not every single municipality needs a lobbyist registry,” said Phelps Bondaroff. “Whereas in our district we’ve seen a lot of concern from residents and desire to see this kind of a program.”
Phelps Bondaroff was also behind the resolution to make housing a human right in B.C., something the federal government has already done, and that adds “urgency and responsibility” to ensuring access to affordable housing,” he said.
As for the adoption of European elevator standards, Phelps Bondaroff said it would encourage installation of more elevators in new buildings, and broaden the market for elevator parts that are the global standard — also making them less expensive.
He said North America, which requires larger elevators, has some of the most expensive elevator costs in the world.
He stressed the measure would be for mid-rise buildings and not high-rise buildings, where existing codes require a certain size for a number of reasons, including being able to fit a paramedic’s stretcher.
All of the resolutions endorsed by Saanich will be passed onto the UBCM this fall for debate in hopes they garner enough support to be forwarded to the province for consideration.
The deadline for submitting resolutions to the Union of B.C. Municipalities is Sunday.
