At their meeting on June 17th, Council adopted the proposed amendments to the Water Regulation & Sewer Bylaw to address servicing challenges presented by the SSMUH requirements. 

The Water Regulation Bylaw proposes to amend the District’s Waterworks Regulation Bylaw to mandate that a water connection for redevelopment of a parcel involving three or more dwelling units, where the parcel was previously vacant or developed with a single-family house or a duplex, will not be permitted unless the District’s water distribution system can deliver to such proposed redevelopment fire flow that: 

1. equals or exceeds 90 litres/second or the fire flow rate determined through fire underwriters survey calculations, whichever is greater, for buildings containing 3 dwelling units; or 
2. equals or exceeds 120 litres/second or the fire flow rate determined through fire underwriters survey calculations, whichever is greater, for any proposed small [1] scale multi-family redevelopment containing 4, 5, or 6 dwelling units. 

The Sewer Bylaw proposes to amend the District’s Sewer Bylaw to mandate that for any redevelopment of a parcel involving 4 or more dwelling units where the parcel was previously vacant or developed with a single-family house or a duplex (a “SSMUH Redevelopment”), that no discharge into the District’s sanitary or storm sewer systems is permitted if:   

1. the capacity of the sanitary sewer system or the storm sewer system will be insufficient to service the SSMUH Redevelopment, either now or in the future, in the circumstance where 25% of the parcels within the applicable catchment area(s) are redeveloped with 4 or more dwelling units, all as determined by the Director; and  
2. the District does not have a formal Council-approved plan in place, including a capital plan, to upgrade the sanitary sewer system or the storm sewer system, or both, as the case may be, to provide the capacity for such redevelopment. 

These proposed new restrictions in the Sewer Bylaw would not apply to any development on any parcel for which: 

1. a valid and subsisting occupancy permit was issued on or before July 2, 2024; or  
2. a complete building permit application was received on or before July 2, 2024. 

Additional information can be found in the full report by district staff.