Establishing Resort Associations

In order to create a Resort Association under the Resort Associations Act, the following requirements need to be considered. It is recommended that draft copies of the maps, bylaws and petition be sent to the Ministry for comment before they are finalized.
 

Support of Resort Property Owners

Resort Associations are supported financially by charges levied to its members. Therefore, any proponent of a Resort Association needs to determine the level of support from the property owners within a proposed Resort Promotion Area for creating a Resort Association and the services that it will deliver. A petition of property owners will be required later in the process as evidence of their support, but initial discussions are important for determine whether the initiative should be pursued.
 

Resort Promotion Area and Resort Land Maps

Maps are required to be developed by the Resort Association proponent to define the Resort Promotion Area and the Resort Association Area. These areas could share the same boundary. The Resort Promotion Area includes properties that are likely to be part of the resort development in the future. The Resort Land includes properties where the owners will have the ability to decide whether to support a Resort Association and will pay the charges levied to support the Resort promotion services if the Resort Association is created.
 

The boundary of the areas must follow legal lot lines and therefore, cannot bisect a parcel of land. The maps should be in sufficient detail that they identify each individual parcel of land within the boundary and their legal description. This will be useful for creating the petitions that will be signed by each property owner who supports the creation of the Resort Association as the legal descriptions of the parcels of land must be included on the petition. Referencing the petitions to the legal descriptions on the maps will assist the Ministry to confirm that sufficient petitions were signed by property owners in support of the Resort Association.
 

Resort Association Bylaws

The Resort Association proponent is required to develop the bylaws that will be adopted by the Resort Association (sample bylaws are available from the Ministry). The Bylaws need to reflect the goals, scope and complexity of the Resort Association. The Bylaws will be reviewed by the Ministry to determine whether the provisions appear to be reasonable and fair to the property owners who will be affected by the bylaw provisions.
 

Petition to the Minister

The Resort Association proponent needs to create a petition that will be used to obtain the support of property owners for the initiative (a sample petition is available from the Ministry).
 

The petition must:

• contain sufficient information to explain the purpose of the petition
• meet the requirements in Section 212 of the Community Charter;
• describe the resort land by an attached map; and
• contain a question to be answered by the property owner asking if they are in favour of creating a Resort Association and paying the charges that it may levy.

Preliminary Ministry Approval

Ministry staff are available to assist the Resort Association proponent to complete the above documents. Once they have been drafted and submitted to the Ministry, a review will be undertaken of the documents to ensure that they meet the legislated requirements and Ministry policies. This review will reduce or eliminate problems that might delay the approval process. It may be helpful if to the Resort Association proponent to use the Checklist to Create a Resort Association when putting together the package of documents that need to be submitted to the Ministry for preliminary approval.
 

Petition of Property Owners

Once preliminary approval has been given by the Ministry, the Resort Association proponent must petition the property owners within the boundary established for the resort land to determine whether they support the initiative. The petition must be signed by at least 50% of the property owners who represent at least 50% of the net taxable assessed value of the lands within the Resort Area. The information that must be included on the petition is listed in Section 212 of the Community Charter.
 

Local Government Approvals

The Resort Association Bylaws, Resort Land map and Resort Promotion Area map must be submitted to the Local Government(s) where the Resort Land is located. The support of the Local Government(s) is necessary in order for the Resort Association proposal to proceed. Evidence of support from the Local Government(s) should be in the form of a resolution passed by the municipal council and/or Regional District Board.
 

Provincial Approval

The Resort Association proponent must submit the completed property owner petitions, maps, bylaws and council and/or board resolution(s) to the Ministry for review. The Checklist to Create a Resort Association may be useful for the Resort Association proponent to ensure that all necessary information is included. If the documents appear to be in order, they will be forwarded to the Minister for consideration. Before creating the Resort Association, the Minister must be satisfied that:

• a sufficient number of land owners have signed petitions in favour of creating the resort association;
• the words Resort Association are included in its name; and
• the bylaws of the Resort Association have been approved by the local government(s) and they appear to be fair and reasonable.

Orders signed by the Minister establish the Resort Promotion Area, Resort Land and Resort Association. In addition, the Minister’s approval is required for the Resort Association Bylaws. Copies of the Ministers Orders and approved bylaws will be forwarded to the Resort Association proponent.
 

Establishment of the Resort Association

Following the approval of the Minister, the Resort Association proponent must submit a copy of the property owner petitions, approved Bylaws, Resort Association address(es) and a list of Resort Association directors to the Registrar of Companies in order to create the Resort Association as a Society. The Registrar will register the Association as a Society and provide this evidence to the Resort Association proponent and the Ministry.

Contact Information

For more information, please contact the Community Relations Branch