The City of Fernie has applied to the Ministry of Community and Rural Development, Local Government Structure Branch to extend their municipal boundary to include the West Fernie area.

Fernie City Council received assent of the electors to petition the Ministry to extend the city’s boundaries following the close of the alternate approval process (AAP) on Monday, September 29. Of the 3,778 eligible electors, only 14 valid petitions were received by the city in response.

Notice for the proposed extension was posted in the British Columbia Gazette on September 4, and the Free Press on August 21 and 28, in accordance with section 20 of the Local Government Act. If the Provincial Cabinet approves the boundary extension, the implementation would then take place in phases over a number of years.

The properties that would be included in Phase 1 are as shown in Figure 1. Once the water and sewer infrastructure upgrades have been completed by Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK), the city will commence the process to amend its Letters Patent.

Funding and other commitments for this project have been provided by:

– $5M grant through the General Strategic Priorities Funding component of the Federal Gas Tax Fund for the Phase 1 infrastructure upgrades was secured by the RDEK;

– Approximately $700K for municipal restructuring costs provided by the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development (maximum restructure assistance permitted);

– The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure will continue to maintain the West Fernie road infrastructure (including snow removal) for five years following the completion of each phase; and

– The Ministry of Justice, for the purpose of calculating population in relation to policing costs, that the City’s population will not be evaluated again until the release of the 2021 Census, if the city’s population (including any boundary extensions made by Census day) is under 5,000 in the 2016 Census.

“Council appreciates the time residents and property owners took to inform themselves about the proposed boundary extension” said Mayor Mary Giuliano, adding: “I would also like to thank the staff at the Regional District of East Kootenay and Province of B.C. for their timely help as well as all the City staff for their hard work bringing this project to this point.”

City Chief Administrative Officer Jim Hendricks pointed out that “this won’t happen overnight; we anticipate that it could take upwards of three years to complete the infrastructure upgrades and legislative requirements for Phase 1 alone.”

The City of Fernie Official Community Plan, adopted in 2014, identified West Fernie as a potential boundary extension area and noted that it had been the subject of a detailed study to determine the costs and benefits of its inclusion in the City of Fernie. That study, being the “West Fernie Infrastructure Servicing Report”, was completed by the RDEK in 2011. Talks and investigations of a West Fernie boundary extension date back years, with the first of several referendums held in April of 1996 where 60 electors voted for and 129 against the extension, thereby defeating the question to bring West Fernie into the City at that time. However, in July of this year, the RDEK was successful in receiving the necessary support, 132 (56%) voters answered “yes” to the petition to proceed with the West Fernie Servicing and Restructure Project.

City of Fernie

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