|
Fernie SnowValleyCommunityAssociation
|
|---|
August 28, 2000
The ski hill is proposing to create a Mountain Resort Association as a low level form of local government for the ski hill area.
A Mountain Resort Association is defined as:
"a nonprofit society that is created to promote the collective economic interests of the community, which normally entail delivering private services such as central booking, marketing, signage and special events planning. Associations tend to carry on activities that focus the community on its primary reason for existence, the mountain resort business"
Creating a Mountain Resort Association requires that two thirds of the land owners representing at least one half of the net taxable values within the mountain resort area, sign and a present a petition to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.
Also see this BC Government booklet and the act itself.
Like other BC societies, the actual operation of the association is dictated by its bylaws. We have a nearly complete (a couple of pages are missing) copy of draft bylaws that the ski hill has put together. Since these bylaws will have to be approved by the R.D.E.K. Board prior to the petition process (and I believe a public hearing might be required), there is presumably some opportunity for property owners to ask for modifications to these bylaws before being asked to decide whether or not to sign the petition.
What follows are just some quick impressions from the draft bylaws as interpreted by my decidedly legally untrained mind. It is also important to keep in mind that this is probably a fairly preliminary draft of the bylaws. Also the bylaws run to almost 40 pages, so this is a very brief summary.
The draft bylaws foresee (I think) nine directors, of which three would be directly appointed by the ski hill. The remaining six are elected by members, but each member can only vote for directors in their category. These comprise two hotel directors, one non hotel lodging director, one tenant/independent operator (I assume business tenants) director, one commercial director (seems to be a business with property) and finally one residential director. Non hotel lodging includes everyone, other than hotels, who rents out part of their property for more than 28 days a year, but where rentals of more than one month to the same person are not counted in that total. It seems to specifically include any houses or condos that are in rental pools etc.
It is our understanding that the charges levied by the mountain resort association would supersede the rent charges assessed against newer properties. Of course the charges would be an additional cost for properties not subject to the rent charges.
There are different charge rates for the different categories of members. The ski hill would be assessed a flat $100,000 per year, while rental units are assessed at $300 per year per bedroom and non rental residential units would be assessed $100 per year per bedroom. The rates would be escalated each year by the consumer price index.
Fees can also be charged for the use of facilities and services, but these facilities and services are not defined.
Unfortunately a key page of the potential functions section is missing from our copy of the bylaws, but some of the key items that do appear include: