B.C. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham is moving ahead with her commitment to get rid of Agricultural Land Reserve rules that permit more secondary uses on rural farmland.
Popham presented legislation Monday that she says will return the ALR to one zone across the province, and impose penalties to stop the dumping of construction waste on farmland.
Agriculture Min describes new penalties for dumping construction fill on farmland
B次元官网网址� Tom Fletcher (@tomfletcherbc)
The legislation also puts a 500-square-metre limit on new houses built on ALR land, to stop wealthy buyers from purchasing farms and building B次元官网网址渕ega-mansionsB次元官网网址� on them, Popham said. That problem has been noticed mostly in Richmond and the Fraser Valley, but can be found B次元官网网址渁nywhere thereB次元官网网址檚 a building boom happening,B次元官网网址� she said.
Relaxing the secondary use rules on farmland outside the Fraser Valley, southern Vancouver Island and the Okanagan was a change made by the previous B.C. Liberal government. They noted that those three prime farming zones generate 85 per cent of the provinceB次元官网网址檚 farm revenues, and created a second zone outside those areas with fewer restrictions on non-farm uses.
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Popham said that was B次元官网网址渦nderminingB次元官网网址� the ALR, and promised before a review of land reserve legislation that it would be ended.
The ALR protects just a sliver of B.C.B次元官网网址檚 land, only five per cent, and more than 90 per cent of that land currently is in zone two,B次元官网网址� Popham said Monday.
Peace River South B.C. Liberal MLA Mike Bernier called the move a B次元官网网址渁 one-size-fits-all decision in VictoriaB次元官网网址� that will damage the viability of farms in his region and elsewhere in the province where farming is financially difficult.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e seen some success already, where people have been able to have a small shop with a few people working, like a water-hauling business in the winter time to help subsidize the farm,B次元官网网址� Bernier said. B次元官网网址淎lmost every farmer in my region who has a side business on their farm uses those funds so they can keep farming.B次元官网网址�
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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