DECEMBER 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


29 West Kelowna pursues bylaw for worker housing


Questions surround property owners’ compliance with bylaws


Stories by TOM WALKER KELOWNA – An attempted


home invasion at a residence in West Kelowna has initiated some action on the part of city council to regulate temporary worker housing. In early August, a woman


believed to have been a temporary worker at a farm in West Kelowna attempted to force her way into nearby home but was repelled by the home’s female resident. The woman’s husband appeared before West Kelowna city council describing the difficulties residents in the neighborhood were having. He showed photographs of the living conditions of temporary agriculture workers on several area farms. Colin Crabbe described tent camps with minimal or no sanitary facilities. He alleged that the workers were being exploited and leading to increased crime and problems in the neighborhood. The farm properties also have permanent dwellings which pose as temporary worker housing but in fact are rented on a year-round basis, Crabbe said. The permanent dwellings are also in very poor condition.


Crabbe said that a petition


signed by 70 people in the neighborhood was presented to West Kelowna council last year but residents have not seen any improvement. West Kelowna staff


reported to council in October on the situation.


Complex issue “The purpose of the report


is to respond to the questions raised by the delegation and to get direction from council,” says Nancy Henderson, general manager of development services. “This is a very complex


issue. It is not simply something we can draw up a bylaw for and fix,” says Dallas Cloves, senior planner with the city. “It also has


implications to the agriculture industry in Kelowna.” West Kelowna staff will consult with the BC Ministry of Agriculture, the city’s Agricultural Advisory Committee and local growers prior to drafting new regulations. Public


consultation will also occur. “What we are dealing with is a long-standing history of pickers living in tents and RVs in our community and we really haven’t had that many complaints other than those properties, so we want to go into consultation,” Henderson explains.


Henderson questions whether it’s the city’s responsibility to make sure that people have a certain standard of living. She doesn’t question the requirement for owners to comply with civic bylaws and zoning. “People are not using these temporary dwellings for the use they were intended,” she says. “Our role is to make sure they are used as intended.”


Variables Housing for seasonal


foreign workers is tightly governed and while not above criticism – Mexico repatriated several workers this year over concerns about housing standards – domestic worker accommodation falls under provincial work camp regulations. This is looser, Henderson says, only taking effect when five or more workers are present on a property. It’s these variables that make the situation in West Kelowna difficult to address. Regardless, the tension


between residential and agricultural property uses is very real because just 11% of Kelowna is in the Agricultural Land Reserve. “That is not a huge


percentage,” says Cloves. “It is like a patchwork with agriculture surrounded by residences, and then another patch. It does heighten the interface issues.”


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Local residents are up in arms about tent cities popping up in local orchards and are pressing West Kelowna city council to look into regulating temporary worker housing. TOM WALKER PHOTO


Taking the next step West Kelowna council received a staff


report in October regarding issues associated with farm worker accommodation in the city. Councillors agreed to draft bylaws in keeping with the following points: • Investigate further regulations in the zoning bylaw for the use of tents and recreational vehicles as acceptable forms of temporary agricultural worker dwellings. • Require that all agricultural worker dwellings have hygienic washroom and bathing facilities. • Require that all agricultural worker dwellings follow occupant loads in the BC


Building Code, but council wants input from the industry on this point.


• Investigate further mechanisms for proponents of temporary agricultural worker dwellings to notify the city of their intent to operate.


• Investigate the possibility of requiring business licenses for the operation of agricultural worker dwellings and increasing the fine for a contravention of the bylaw.


• Investigate a council policy for statutory declarations and/or restrictive covenants associated with temporary agricultural workers.


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