Bylaws

When voluntary measures alone do not bring adequate results in lowering smoke emissions, some communities in BC have implemented bylaws. However, not all these bylaws will be appropriate for every community.

Many communities already have fire-safety bylaws that address the installation and use of wood-burning appliances. Several communities have also adopted bylaws to specifically address smoke emissions and air quality concerns, particularly communities where a high percentage of residences use wood as their primary source of heat. Municipal bylaws to control smoke from residential wood-burning appliance can take several approaches:

Installation of Wood-burning Appliances
Bylaw can limit what appliances are installed and used, linking to fire safety concerns

Non-certified Appliance Removal
Bylaws can simply require the removal of older appliances that do not meet current emission standards. A deadline is set at some date in the future for removal of old appliances.

Alternatively, replacement could be linked to home inspections and house insurance. For example, when a home is sold, the purchaser needs to get a municipal inspection done on the home before an insurance company will provide coverage. Municipal inspections usually require replacement due to safety concerns; a smoke bylaw could include emission standards that similarly must be met. Without replacing an older appliance, a new home would not pass its municipal inspection, and therefore the new owner could not get insurance.

No Burn Days
In communities where weather conditions often inhibit the dispersal of smoke from residential wood-burning appliances (and other sources), bylaws can establish a program whereby the municipality has the authority to limit or ban the use of wood-burning appliances under conditions of poor smoke dispersal. The ban remains in place until the conditions improve.

Nuisance
Aside from having potentially significant health impacts, smoke is often very simply a nuisance, like undesirable excessive noise. Nuisance bylaws can be used to address smoke.

Model bylaw
The Federal Provincial Intergovernmental Working Group on Residential Fuel Wood Combustion (IGWGRWC) has developed a model bylaw to assist local governments to develop bylaws to address smoke from residential wood-burning appliances. The model lays out the approach for various types of bylaws as well as ideas to assist in the development of public awareness campaigns. For further information, see the Reference Materials list in the Resources Section.

Consider implementation of a bylaw in stages (e.g. to be evaluated after one year and amended as appropriate).

Consider different possible types of bylaws. Not all will be appropriate for all smoke sources; some are more appropriate/effective for certain smoke sources than others.

The federal government's "Model Municipal Bylaw for Regulating Residential Wood-burning Appliances" offers the following control measures to address specific appliances:

• Control the fuel used
• Installation of wood burning appliances;
• Non-certified appliance removal;
• No burn days (ban burning when smoke dispersion is poor)
• Nuisance
• Opacity (a way to measure how heavy the smoke emissions from an appliance are).