Mrs. Creer (formerly Heslop) appealed a decision of the Environmental Health Officer (“EHO”) refusing to issue a permit to repair a privy. The privy would service a new cabin on a recreational property in the Cypress Bowl area of West Vancouver. The previous cabin had burned down in 1960. The EHO rejected the permit application on the grounds that there was no evidence of an existing privy on the property, and the proposed privy would not accommodate all domestic sewage emanating from the proposed cabin, thereby constituting a health hazard.
The Panel found that there was evidence of a previous privy although it had fallen into disrepair and was almost unrecognizable. It also found that a privy was an adequate sewage disposal system for the proposed recreational use of the property and, provided certain conditions were met, it would not create a health hazard. The Panel therefore directed the EHO to issue a permit to repair the privy under section 7(2) of the Regulation, with the condition that there be no bathroom or kitchen plumbing in the new cabin. The appeal was allowed.
