Soil Deposit Bylaw

The Fraser Valley Regional District Board is concerned about the serious negative impacts associated with unregulated soil deposit in our Electoral Area communities and environments. To address this issue, the Board is considering the adoption of a bylaw to regulate soil deposit in the Electoral Areas of the Fraser Valley Regional District. The FVRD Electoral Area Soil Deposit Bylaw No. 1802, 2025 received first and second readings on September 18, 2025, followed by third reading of a revised version of the bylaw on November 27, 2025, by the Regional Board.

This bylaw will regulate soil deposits in various ways, including:

• Establishing permitting requirements and permit conditions for three classes of soil deposit activities:
  • Type A - under 100 cubic metres/year
  • Type B -100 cubic metres - 1000 cubic metres/year
  • Type C - over 100 cubic metres/year
• Requiring permit holders to maintain a logbook of all soil deposited and submit monthly volume reports
• Setting out 13 exemptions from the need for a permit; and,
• Prohibiting soil deposit over wells and septic fields and from obstructing, impairing, or impeding the flow of streams.

Once adopted, this bylaw will apply to all soil deposit activities, both new and ongoing. There will be no grandfathering of activities that may have commenced prior to the bylaw adoption. All soil-related operations must comply fully with the bylaw once it is in effect.

The draft bylaw can be reviewed in full here: FVRD Electoral Area Soil Deposit Bylaw No. 1802, 2025.

The Fraser Valley Regional District Board invited public comments on the draft bylaw in the discussion forum below between October 6-November 5, 2025.