Residents in 131 properties in Birch Island between Clearwater and Vavenby will no longer be voting in a referendum if they want to set up and pay for local fire protection.

It’s because the Thompson-Nicola Regional District is replacing the Sept. 14 referendum with a petition process that will aims to see if there is enough support for the existing Vavenby Fire Protection Service Area to be expanded to include properties in Birch Island.

“Typically for service expansions like this, what we usually do is a petition process. What we were going to do in this case was a little bit unique,” Jamie Vieira, the TNRD’s General Manager of Operations told Radio NL.

“We were going to do a referendum simply because through community consultation, the community was in favour of doing a referendum.”

Speaking on NL Newsday, Vieira says the change in the voting process comes after feedback from the provincial government.

“They don’t like to see a referendum happen when its just adding an area into an existing service area,” Vieira said.

“Other TNRD referendums, like for example the one in Monte Creek, we created a new fire protection area through a referendum. The difference here is we’re not creating a new area, we’re adding properties onto an existing area, and this is where [the province] said the most appropriate way to do this is for a petition so then those people paying the taxes are petitioning to join an existing service area so we’ve had to readjust.”

Vieira if people vote yes, they’ll be paying the same as people in the Vavenby area – $1.07 per $1,000 of assessed value for residential properties, with businesses paying about 2.5 times more and utilities paying 3.5 times more.

Using those 2024 tax rates, a residential property with an assessed value of $400,000 would pay an additional $428 per year for fire protection.

“If the referendum is successful then the plan would be to have a fire truck stationed there within the community. It would still be part of the Vavenby Fire Department,” Vieira told Radio NL in April. “We also think this would benefit both Vavenby and Birch Island, because we wouldn’t have – if you will – all your eggs in one basket where you have a fire truck in a different location within the service area is a benefit to everyone.”

A community meeting will be held at the Birch Island Community Park Wednesday night, Aug. 28, where people can learn more about the petition process, which will wrap up on Oct. 4.

In order for the petition to be successful, at least 50 per cent of affected properties owners will need to vote in favour of it. Those property owners will also need to represent at least 50 per cent of the assessed value of land and improvements within the proposed service area in Birch Island.

Petition forms will be available at the Aug. 28. Forms will also be mailed out to residents who do not sign the petition at the meeting. People who are not in favour of the expansion need to do nothing, the TNRD says.

If the vote is successful, the new fire protection service in Birch Island will begin on Jan. 1, 2025.

For more on the petition process and the plan to expand fire protection to Birch Island, go here.