[Dec. 12 UPDATE – Airstrip Limits in British Columbia Linked to Drafting Oversight]
A draft zoning bylaw in northeastern British Columbia could severely restrict bush flying by placing new limitations on where aircraft may take off and land.
The Peace River Regional District’s proposed Zoning Bylaw No. 2582, 2025 defines an airstrip as “any area of land or water designed or used for the landing and take-off [of] private aircraft,” and prohibits any use not expressly listed in a legally defined zone. Under the draft text, airstrips are permitted only in the Tourist Commercial (C-3) and Civic, Assembly, and Institutional (P-2) zones, potentially confining legal aircraft operations to a small number of mapped parcels.
Most rural areas—including Agricultural (AG), Residential zones, and both Light and Heavy Industrial—do not list airstrips among permitted uses. Because the bylaw defines airstrips quite broadly and treats the defined airstrip use as prohibited unless named, landowners may be unable to maintain private farm strips or conduct off-airport bush flights outside those two zones. The bylaw appears to potentially limit float plane operations as well.
“This bylaw would prohibit aircraft operations in almost all of the regional district except at about six airports in the cities in the district,” one resident said in a message shared with AVweb.
Temporary use permits remain an option across the district, potentially allowing short-term aviation activity subject to conditions tied to noise, traffic and environmental considerations.
The bylaw would also repeal several existing zoning frameworks, replacing them with a consolidated set of rules that, if adopted as written, would centralize most aircraft operations onto designated airstrip parcels. This, in effect, could outlaw most bush flying and other backcountry flying operations in the region by default.
This is regulation addressing a problem that really doesn’t exist. There wasn’t a problem identified, then a regulation created to address that problem.