Septic, suites, and landslides: Why the FVRD put a pause on BC's new housing requirements

More houses means more people. More people means more poop. And in one of the Fraser Valley Regional District’s rural areas, that’s a concern that policymakers aren’t yet ready to grapple with.

Last winter, the BC government told all local governments to implement new rules that would help increase the number of homes in the province. By the June 30 deadline, nearly every town, city, village, and district had done so. But not the Fraser Valley Regional District. It has a problem.

The valley’s rural unincorporated communities are serviced by limited water and sewer systems—and in many cases have no government-supported sanitary infrastructure at all. FVRD staff worry that allowing secondary suites or coach houses on more rural properties will create significant problems with the region’s aquifers and groundwater sources.

“We don’t have a really great way of understanding groundwater impacts,” Graham Daneluz, FVRD’s director of planning and development, explained at an April board meeting. “That lack of knowledge, in my view, heightens the risk.”

Elsewhere in the FVRD, the risk of landslides and debris flows has also made officials cautious about green-lighting new homes..

In an effort to learn more about the Fraser Valley’s rural water systems and geohazards—and the potential impact new homes could have—the FVRD asked for more time to identify risks, before finally approving BC’s new housing rules.

The province agreed—but only until the end of 2025.

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