Farmland consultation
The province’s consultation on revitalizing the 45-year-old Agricultural Land Commission and the 11.4 million acres it oversees ends April 30, but statistics released last week offer a mid-term insight into its progress.
A total of nine invitation-only meetings have been held, with the guest list including primarily – but not exclusively – farm organizations. Property owners, the general public and anyone else have been encouraged to complete an online survey or make written submissions. Close to 1,000 surveys have been completed to date.
Two things have been clear, even without the consultation: the province aims to eliminate the two-zone structure implemented in 2014 and find ways to encourage production on land within the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR). Review panel members indicate legislation is taking shape on the former point, and discussion at producer meetings this spring indicates support among many farm groups for the latter.
Other key issues include cannabis production on farmland. While wine grapes, hops and malting barley are acceptable crops, the review panel has fielded an unexpected tide of opposition to intoxicating cannabis. (Driving home the point, Central Saanich residents delivered a 1,400-signature petition to B.C. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham opposing a local dairy farm’s conversion to cannabis production.)
Development of estate homes on farmland has been a hot issue from Richmond to the Peace region. Whether a parcel is five acres or a quarter section, many say they’re inappropriate for farmland. The issue is often linked to out-of-province speculators, but as Canada’s senators observed in a report released in Vancouver last week, protecting farmland depends on the provinces setting firm rules. B.C. has published guidelines but failed to limit farmhouse sizes. Premier John Horgan has said that’s the job of municipalities.
To date, no one has mentioned industrial land, and, not being farm organizations, neither commercial real estate association NAIOP nor the Urban Development Institute (UDI) was invited to the nine meetings with stakeholders.
UDI president and CEO Anne McMullin said UDI “fully supports the need to ensure regional land is reserved for local food supply and production” and encouraged its members to complete the online survey.
However, balancing competing needs is important to accommodate homes and jobs in the region.
“Provincial and regional decision-makers must balance those needs and pressures,” McMullin said in a statement. “Freezing land is easy, but freeing up land is difficult due to zoning regulations, municipal approval delays and community opposition.”
How changes aimed at revitalizing the ALR among competing land uses will be clear when the review panel delivers its report later this year.
Malahat purchase
The saga of the Bamberton lands took another twist at the beginning of March when the province plunked down $9 million to acquire 570 acres of the former industrial site near Mill Bay north of Victoria.
Now known as the Malahat lands, the acreage is part of the 1,300 acres the Malahat First Nation acquired from Bamberton Properties LLP in July 2015. The province’s purchase follows Steelhead LNG Corp.’s decision late last year to nix plans for a liquefied natural gas plant at the site. The deal gives the Malahat the cash needed to pay off the 2015 purchase – reported at the time as worth $37.5 million, a figure never confirmed – and also dovetails with provincial efforts to conclude a treaty with the Malahat.
“The parcels purchased by the Province were part of the original Bamberton site and were purchased from the Malahat to help the nation to complete the land deal,” a statement from the B.C. Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation said. “[It] is expected to become part of the Malahat Nation’s treaty lands when a treaty has been reached.” •
