The Gillies Bay Improvement District has been providing the residents of Gillies Bay with clean, potable water, fire protection services, and street lighting, since the early 1960’s.
Improvement districts are local authorities responsible for providing local services for the benefit of the residents in a community. They vary considerably in size from small subdivisions to larger communities and are usually located in rural areas of the province.
Improvement districts are focused on providing local services such as water, fire protection, street lighting, dyking, drainage, garbage collection and parks, rather than general governance or land use planning. Typically an improvement district provides one or two services. These services are financed by taxation or user fees.
Every improvement district is governed by a board of elected trustees (elected by area property owners) one of whom acts as chair. The powers exercised by the trustees (to enact and enforce its regulations and charges, to assess and collect taxes, to acquire, hold and dispose of lands, to borrow money and to expropriate lands) flow from the improvement district’s bylaws, the Local Government Act and other applicable provincial statutes. Information on these topics can be found in the Improvement District Manual.
Most improvement districts are located within the boundary of a regional district, yet they are independent of each other. Others are located inside municipalities. Overlaps in jurisdiction can and do occur, so co-ordination between the two is essential. Regional districts can apply on behalf of improvement districts for infrastructure planning and capital grants from the Local Government Department.
WATER DISTRIBUTION
The Gillies Bay Improvement District’s Letter Patent was established in 1963. The Gillies Bay water distribution system was largely built by Texada Mines prior to its donation to the newly established GBID in 1965.
The system supplies potable water to a little less than 500 residents from Cranby Lake.
FIRE PROTECTION
The Gillies Bay Volunteer Fire Department is a volunteer organization serving the fire district of Gillies Bay. To see their pages on this site, please go to Gillies Bay Volunteer Fire Department