AUGUST 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
Kelowna ag plan looks to strengthen farming City focuses on where it can lead
by TOM WALKER KELOWNA – Kelowna has
released the final draft of its new agriculture plan, and it’s looking positive for agriculture. “We started in February last
year and our first
engagement meeting was in June,” says Tracy Guidi, sustainability co-ordinator for the city of Kelowna. “We hope to present the final version to council for approval in mid August.” Presented to the public in
July, the draft plan reflects discussions with Kelowna’s agricultural advisory committee (AAC), the public and other stakeholders. A few final changes will be made that reflect public comments. “We had seven meetings with the agriculture advisory committee, getting their feedback throughout the process and three touch points with the public and stakeholders as well,” Guidi says. “As we went along, we had three meetings with council as well as workshop sessions just to make sure there are no surprises at the end.”
Approximately 55% of
Kelowna’s land base is zoned A1 (agricultural use) and residents think it’s important to keep it that way. “A common thread in all the meetings is that everyone wants to preserve and protect agricultural land,” says Guidi. “That came through very strongly from the public open houses, the stakeholders and all the different organizations.” Four themes in the plan lead the city to pursue 51 recommended actions. While that sounds like a lot, Guidi says an effort was made to focus on areas within the city’s control. “Compared to other plans
across the province that I have seen, we have really focused on what the city can do, so we can be responsible for the implementation,” says Guidi. “Others will look at joint initiatives, but you lose some of that control. We asked what can we do to strengthen agriculture as a city.” Strengthening local policies and regulations to protect agriculture looks at preserving and strengthening farmland and limiting non-agricultural development. Actions include restricting non-farm use, restricting additional density incurred with carriage houses and adopting the provincial maximum house sizes of 300 square metres (3,552 square feet) on a lot size less than eight hectares (20 acres) and 465 square metres (5,005 square feet) on lots larger
than eight hectares. Stewarding natural
resources and the environment for food production involves integrating the agriculture sector’s needs into environmental initiatives and addresses concerns over water, climate and buffers zones. A sustainable water supply for all agriculture is a key here, as are drought and wildfire response plans and bylaws covering noxious insects and weeds. Improving awareness of
local agriculture and access to local food supports actions to increase the visibility of and access to local food products and to raise the level of understanding about agriculture. Developing a healthy food strategy for Kelowna, investigating ‘pop up’ markets for local produce and evaluating a farm signage program are advocated. Under the theme of
Fostering and sustaining farm business and farmland, the plan recommends Kelowna investigate and support alternative ownership of farmland such as a farmland trust.
The plan also recognizes
agriculture sector needs that are beyond the city’s capacity or jurisdiction to address but where it could play a supportive role. These include helping community groups determine a permanent farmers market location, supporting land-linking and mentorship programs and working with the province to manage troublesome wildlife. “We realize we can’t do
everything at once,” Guidi acknowledges. “But we laid out the implementation strategy in a phased approach and I really think that it’s put out in such a way as we can achieve what we set out to do.”
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Build your dream home on Kelowna agricultural land – but now size will matter if city council moves forward on the details in their ag plan. TOM WALKER PHOTO
The plan identifies time
frames for each action and priority levels. And the plan recommends hiring an additional full-time planning and a half-time by-law officer to aid implementation. “As soon as council
approves the plan, we can get started on our high-priority, short-term items,” says Guidi. Those include restricting non-farm use, including updating the Official Community Plan and capping the total floor area of principal dwellings. (This requires updating zoning bylaws.) Staff will also start to develop budget items for approval. Of course, just because it’s in the plan doesn’t make it a done deal. “If we need to update a
zoning bylaw, we might have to do some engagement first and we would have to go to our AAC for the exact
wording,” Guidi points out. “If it’s controversial, we might do an open house and as it goes through council, it would require a public hearing.” Will this be the end to
oversize ’estate houses’ on underutilized farmland in Kelowna? “We were expecting
pushback on the housing size, even though that’s what is recommended by the province. But it didn’t come up once, either in the on-line surveys, the open houses or the stakeholder sessions,” Guidi says. “We know that one will have to go to public hearing.”
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