Two acres means two acres, a B.C. judge has ruled in a case over Agricultural Land Commission jurisdiction.

A Langley landowner recently won her case and will be allowed to subdivide a property because itB次元官网网址檚 very, very slightly less than two acres in size.

In 2009, Kathryn Guse bought a parcel of land in rural Langley Township. In 2015, she applied to the Township to subdivide the site into four lots of approximately half an acre each.

The Township raised no objections, but notified the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) because the property was next to farmland.

Property in the Agricultural Land Reserve normally needs ALC approval for subdivision, but in this case the Township felt that since the land had been surveyed at 1.997 acres, it was exempt from that rule. Any lot less than two acres in size is exempt.

The ALC wrote back and objected, saying the property B次元官网网址渟hould be considered to be two acres because it was more than 1.995 acres.B次元官网网址�

The ALC had updated its policies to consider any property of 1.995 acres and up as being equivalent to two acres or more.

That led to a hearing before B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robert Sewell.

Sewell ruled the ALCB次元官网网址檚 rules are not meant to apply to any property smaller than two acres.

B次元官网网址淚n summary, I find that there is only one reasonable interpretation of [the regulation] and that the decision and the policy on which it is based are unreasonable because they ignore the plain meaning of the section as informed by the legislative context,B次元官网网址� Sewell wrote.

He overturned the ALCB次元官网网址檚 decision and declared the lot is exempt from the ALCB次元官网网址檚 jurisdiction over subdivision.