At the initiative of the District of Summerland, mayors and councillors from the province’s 49 District Municipalities will meet this week at the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) annual convention to discus issues of mutual concern.
Attendees will speak about what it means to be a District Municipality, consider the issues and discuss opportunities for co-operation and collaboration. It’s believed to be the first such meeting of District Municipality elected representatives.
A District Municipality is a provincial classification of local government for communities with a population density of fewer than five people per hectare at the time of incorporation. Often characterized by a mix of both rural and urban settlement, a District Municipality tends to have a population density smaller than that of a city and a land base larger than that of a town.
The smallest District Municipality (Wells) has a population of 218 while the largest (Langley) has a population of 132,603. (Summerland’s population is 12,042.)
“Each District Municipality is unique but one challenge many of us have in common is the very thing that makes us a District – our small population relative to our land base,” said Summerland Mayor Doug Holmes.
“In Summerland, 86% of our land has some kind of restriction limiting development and therefore contributes less than 3% of our property tax revenues. Yet infrastructure demands like road maintenance in these areas are increasing. We never get far when speaking to the Province about this concern so Council wondered if there were other municipalities in the same boat with whom we could advocate together. If so, they’re most likely to be a District Municipality, and UBCM seemed the logical place to start a conversation.”
Over the summer, Mayor Holmes wrote to all the District Municipality mayors to test interest in getting together and the response was overwhelmingly favourable. The District of Summerland then worked with convention organizers to secure a meeting time and room.
The meeting will be held Thursday, September 21, 2023 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, location of the UBCM convention.
UBCM is the provincial association of local governments formed to provide a common voice for its members. Its annual convention brings together local, provincial, and Indigenous governments to identify and engage on key policy issues.