80 Controlled Access Highway

CROSS REFERENCES AND OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION

See s. 1 of the Land Title Act, which defines “designated highways official” as follows:

• “designated highways official” means an employee of the Ministry of Transportation designated, by name or by title, by the minister responsible for that ministry as a designated highways official for the purposes of the applicable provision of this Act.

See s. 75 of the Act regarding the access requirements applicable to subdivisions.

Section 1 of the Transportation Act defines a controlled access highway as follows:

• “controlled access highway” means a highway designated as a controlled access highway under section 48.

Section 48 of the Transportation Act allows the minister to designate or remove a designation of a provincial public highway as a controlled access highway.

Controlled access highways

• 48 (1) The minister may, by order,

• (a) designate all or any part of a provincial public highway as a controlled access highway, and
• (b) remove the designation of “controlled access highway” from all or any part of a highway.

• (2) If a provincial public highway designated as a controlled access highway under subsection (1) was, before that designation, a rural highway, an arterial highway or a scenic highway, the provisions of this or any other enactment that apply to rural, arterial or scenic highways, as the case may be, continue to apply to the controlled access highway for so long as it is a rural highway, an arterial highway or a scenic highway.
• (3) After an order is made under subsection (1), the minister must publish notice of the order in the prescribed manner.

Sections 49 to 52 deal with access to and development near controlled access highways.

Restrictions on access

• 49 (1) A person must not,

• (a) without the authorization of the minister, construct or reopen, or allow the construction or reopening of, any means of access to or from a controlled access highway, or
• (b) obtain access to or from any controlled access highway other than by way of an access point
  • (i) constructed by the minister, or
  • (ii) authorized by the minister under paragraph (a).

• (2) An authorization under subsection (1) must be in writing unless the authorization is provided to a person who is to engage in the authorized activity within the course of the person’s employment as a public officer.

Unauthorized access

• 50 (1) If the minister believes that there is a location at or through which unauthorized access to or from a controlled access highway may be obtained, the minister may furnish a notice to the owner or occupier of the land to or from which that access may be obtained requiring the person to seal off the access point in the manner and within the time specified by the minister.
• (2) Division 4 of Part 2 applies to a notice under subsection (1).

Authorization for constructing or reopening access

• 51 (1) The minister may, on terms and conditions the minister considers appropriate, provide to a person an authorization to construct or reopen, or allow the construction or reopening of, any means of access to or from a controlled access highway.
• (2) Without limiting other terms and conditions the minister may impose in relation to an authorization under this section, the minister may, as part of the terms and conditions on which an authorization may be provided, do one or more of the following:

• (a) establish the location and form of the authorized access;
• (b) require the person to whom the authorization is provided to construct, upgrade, alter, expand, extend, repair, rehabilitate or protect any improvement that the minister considers necessary to facilitate the required access;
• (c) establish terms and conditions relating to the planning, design, acquisition, holding, construction, use, operation, upgrading, alteration, expansion, extension, maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, protection, removal, discontinuance, closure and disposition of the access, including, without limitation, the standards to which that work is to be completed;
• (d) impose limitations on the authorized access;
• (e) charge and collect a fee for the authorization in the amount prescribed.

• (3) The minister may amend or terminate an authorization given in relation to a controlled access highway under subsection (1) in any of the following circumstances:

• (a) the minister believes that the amendment or termination is necessary to protect the health or safety of a person who is or may be using, or who is near to, a provincial public undertaking;
• (b) the minister believes that there is an urgent public need to amend or terminate the authorization;
• (c) the minister believes that the amendment or termination is necessary to
  • (i) protect or preserve the integrity of the controlled access highway, or
  • (ii) operate the controlled access highway in the most efficient and effective manner;
• (d) the minister believes that the authorization has resulted in an unreasonable impediment to the minister’s ability to exercise one or more of the minister’s rights, powers or advantages under this Act;
• (e) the holder of the authorization has breached any of the terms and conditions on which the authorization was granted.

Development near controlled access highway

• 52 (1) In this section:
• “controlled area” means, in relation to an intersection of a controlled access highway with any other highway, land and improvements within a radius of 800 metres from the intersection;
• “zoning bylaw” means

• (a) a zoning bylaw under the Local Government Act, or
• (b) for a community planning area, a zoning bylaw under the Local Services Act.

• (2) The minister may enter into an agreement under this section with the municipality or regional district in which a controlled area is located.
• (3) A zoning bylaw of a municipality or regional district does not apply to a controlled area unless

• (a) the bylaw has been approved in writing by the minister or any person designated in writing by the minister before its adoption, or
• (b) the bylaw is in compliance with the terms of an agreement referred to in subsection (2) between the minister and the municipality or regional district.

• (4) If the minister enters into an agreement referred to in subsection (2) with a municipality or regional district,

• (a) a zoning bylaw is in compliance with that agreement, for the purposes of subsection (3)(b), if and for so long as
  • (i) development within the controlled area complies with a plan that forms part of or is identified in the agreement, and
  • (ii) the municipality or regional district complies with the terms of the agreement, and
• (b) a zoning bylaw that is not in compliance with the agreement must be submitted to the minister for approval in writing under subsection (3)(a).

Subdivision Approval on Land Adjacent to Controlled Access Highway

See s. 1 of the Application for Subdivision Approval Regulation, B.C. Reg. 8/89, which provides:

• Subdivision approval for land adjacent to controlled access highway
• 1 Where a plan of subdivision affects land adjacent to a controlled access highway as defined in the Transportation Act, the approving officer, in addition to the ground for refusal stated in section 85(3) of the Land Title Act, may refuse to approve the subdivision plan if the approving officer considers that it does not provide access to the land in the subdivision, its remainder and the lands contiguous to the subdivided property, or lands dependent upon the subdivided property, or land dependent upon the subdivided property for its sole access by means of an adequate road allowance for a frontage road, service road or local street.