David Coney [PDF - 935 KB]

Ministry of Agriculture
Consultation
on the
Agricultural Land Reserve
Regulation
UBCM
September 24, 2014
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Agenda
1. Review recent changes to the Agricultural
Land Commission Act;
2. Describe the consultation process and
summarize feedback.
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The Agricultural Land Commission Act
The ALCA establishes the ALR as a priority zone
for agriculture. It also establishes the structure,
operations and powers of the ALC, including the
process for applications.
Sect 6 provides the ALC’s purpose, and the basis
for its decision making.
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Changes to ALCA
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Regional Panels
ALR Zones
Local Government Act Amendment
ALC Reporting and Accountability
Additional Regulation-Making Powers
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1. Regional Panels
The amended Act
• Establishes the 6 panel regions in legislation;
• Establishes that most decisions on ALC
applications will be rendered by regional
panels;
• Requires at least 2 commissioners per regional
panel who reside in the region of their panel.
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1.
ALC
Regional
Panels
6
The amended Act
establishes two
ALR Zones:
Zone 1= Island,
South Coast and Okanagan
panel regions
Zone 2 = Interior, Kootenay,
and North panel regions
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2. ALR Zones
Decision making criteria in the two Zones:
Zone 1: No change (the purpose of the ALC: s. 6 of the Act)
Zone 2: ALC must consider, in descending order of priority:
i The purpose of the Commission (s. 6)
ii. Economic, cultural and social values;
iii. Regional and community planning objectives; and
iv. Any other considerations prescribed by regulation.
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3. Local Government Act Amendment
• The Local Government Act is amended so that
local governments must consult with the ALC
earlier on in development of, or amendments
to, an Official Community Plan
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4. ALC Reporting and Accountability
• The amended Act will allow government to set
service standards and reporting requirements
for the ALC [12.2];
The Ministry and the ALC are consulting on these
changes through a separate process.
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5. Additional Regulation-Making Powers
• The amended Act provides government with
authority to make regulations in a number of
areas.
• Many are not being utilized at this time.
• Those that are include establishing residency
criteria for Commissioners, and modernizing
ALC reporting and accountability measures.
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Consultation Questions
• Central Theme: What additional uses of ALR
land should be allowed without an
application to the ALC?
• 12 questions were created based on input
from the Minister’s ALC Reference Group
(UBCM, the ALC, and the BCAC).
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Consultation Process
• Two meetings with the Reference Group.
• Eight regional meetings, involving several hundred
individuals from over 100 stakeholder groups.
• Public input:
– An ALR Regulation Consultation website (813 submissions)
– Email/Post (883 submissions)
• 88 unique, individual submissions.
• 573 ‘form’ submissions expressing general support for the
ALR but not answering the consultation questions;
• 222 ‘form’ submissions from the Dawson Creek area.
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Question 1: Should the parameters for allowable on-farm food
storage, packing, processing and retail establishments be revised?
• Considerable majority overall do not support change to 50% rule
• Proposals from zone 2 to eliminate % threshold in favour of maximum footprint
or to reduce threshold to 10%
Question 2: Should breweries, distilleries and meaderies be allowed on
ALR land on the same or similar terms as wineries and cideries are
currently allowed?
• Mixed views, slight majority overall support proposal. Strongest support came
from LGs in Zone 1.
Question 3: Should the allowable footprint for consumption areas (or
‘lounges’) ancillary to wineries and cideries be increased?
• Considerable majority overall do not support increasing area. Strongest support
from template responses from Dawson Creek.
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Question 4: To what extent should wineries and cideries be allowed to sell alcohol
that was not produced on the farm?
• Majority in all regions do not support proposal. Strongest opposition from
the North and the Island.
Question 5: Should anaerobic digesters be permitted in the ALR if the inputs are
generated from farming activities?
• Considerable majority in the regional meetings want to maintain
application process.
• Majority of on-line and written responses support allowing without an
application. Strongest support from non-farming ALR landowners. Also
support from local governments.
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Question 6: Should on-farm cogeneration facilities be permitted on farms where a
portion of the energy created is used on-farm?
• Considerable majority in regional meetings do not support allowing Co-Gen
without an application to ALC.
• Small majority of on-line/ written responses do support it. ALR Land-owners
and those in North were most supportive.
Question 7: Should the parameters be expanded for when non-agriculture
related businesses are allowed to operate on ALR properties in Zone 2?
• Considerable majority overall do not support expanding list.
• Strongest support came from ALR landowners in Zone 2 and template
responses from Dawson Creek group.
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Question 8: Should subdivision of ALR properties in Zone 2 to minimum parcel
size of quarter section be allowed without application to ALC? (Background: ¼
Section General Order - late 1990’s to 2003 in PRRD and NRRD)
• Northern BC: majority support proposal, except for local governments.
• Other regions: considerable majority do not support the proposal.
Question 9: Should subdivision of ALR parcels in Zone 2 that are defined size, and
are divided by major highway or waterway, be allowed without application to
ALC? (Background: Safety and practicality)
• N.E region: majority of mostly non-farming ALR landowners support proposal.
• Other regions: considerable majority do not support proposal but generally not a
relevant issue in those areas.
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Question 10: Should greater clarity be provided on what constitutes an agritourism activity that is allowable in ALR without an application, and if so what
parameters should be established?
• Considerable majority overall support providing greater clarity. Especially
strong support from LGs.
• Some suggestions for fewer restrictions
Question 11: Should temporary leases of portions of property in Zone 2 of the ALR
be allowed without an application to the ALC for:
(a) intergenerational transfer of an active farm or ranch operation;
(b) to encourage use of otherwise unfarmed land by farmers?
(a) Life Estate Lease
- Mixed views from regional meetings. Majority support from on-line
respondents. Some Zone 2 groups proposed allowing subdivisions rather than
Life Estate Leases.
(b) Production Lease
- Strong support overall for allowing these leases without application to ALC.
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Question 12: Any other proposals for amendments to the ALR
Regulation?
Provide greater flexibility on use of ALR land:
Examples: Allow homes/businesses on low quality soils; allow oil and gas
ancillary services; extend the ALC home-site severance policy.
Encourage farming on the ALR:
Examples: prohibit oil and gas activity in ALR; put excluded land back in ALR
if not developed within prescribed period; prohibit water dug-outs.
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Other Themes from Consultations
Support the ALC:
Examples: Ensure ALC has resources to fulfill its mandate and for
effective C&E.
Encourage farming in the ALR:
Examples: Restrict foreign ownership for planting trees for earning
carbon credits; rescind existing delegation agreements and preclude any
more.
Other ideas:
Examples: Address the property tax inequity between on-farm and offfarm businesses. Conduct boundary reviews.
Thank you!
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