AUGUST 2018 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


Abbotsford waits for clarity on ALR guidelines Province’s review of land reserve could impact bylaw development


by PETER MITHAM ABBOTSFORD– Abbotsford has put


the brakes on its AgRefresh planning initiative pending clarity regarding the province’s plans for the Agricultural Land Reserve. “We just felt, as a council, we did not want to proceed until we know the outcome of [the ALR revitalization] report to avoid having to reverse or revise our bylaws. We were about 80% through this, so the timing was the pits,” Abbotsford mayor Henry Braun said last month. The city made the pause official on April 23, halting an initiative that began in 2016. A final report had been expected this summer. It came days before the


Agricultural Land Commission rejected a bid by Abbotsford to remove 494 acres from the ALR for industrial use, a proposal that had emerged from the AgRefresh initiative. “AgRefresh was very much


connected to the exclusion application, because we have several hundred properties that we know are not in compliance with the ALC regulations,” explains Braun. “You name the industry and it’s probably out there, from trucking to cement to mini-storage.” By designating land for industrial purposes, Braun – who has made a


crackdown on non-compliant uses of farmland a focus of his work as mayor – hoped to provide an outlet so industrial uses didn’t have to occupy farmland. The problem isn’t just with the use


of agricultural land for industrial purposes, he adds, but the fact that industrial businesses within the ALR operate without paying industrial property taxes. This hurts the entire city.


He says soils in Bradner, an area of


West Abbotsford recommended for exclusion, are clay-based and lack irrigation. They may be suitable for poultry farms and greenhouses but not soil- based farming systems. “But they don’t go there, those


[poultry and greenhouse] farmers. Where do they go? They go on the best Class 1 soils that we have, and take out all of the topsoil and put concrete in,” he says, and they’re not even producing food.


Potential Opponents of further ALR


exclusions agree regarding the potential of Bradner properties. Jill Robbins, who operates K&M Farms in the area with her parents, says poultry farms are a perfect example of the potential of local properties. "I farm seven acres and I make over $100,000 a year," she said last year.


"Chicken barns only need a couple of acres and they make a ton of money on a small acreage." But like greenhouses, they're the


next best thing to warehouses as a building type, and Braun says cannabis farms are the next wave. A rancher himself, Braun says land uses need to match the soils. With warehouse-like structures on Class 1 soils and emotions running high over the loss of lower-quality land from the ALR, he says “everything is upside down.”


This is where the province needs to


provide clear, consistent guidance to help municipalities know how to best manage their lands. “The rules and the regulations are


made by the province, and we have to abide by that. We’re just trying to figure out what the landscape looks like going forward,” he says. “The process that we followed was the one that was recommended to us by the land commission. Then there was a change in government, and everything started to change.” To help map a path forward,


Abbotsford council directed Braun to initiate discussions between the city and BC agriculture minister Lana Popham, ALC chair Jennifer Dyson and ALC CEO Kim Grout. “The purpose of the meetings is just to consider how do we proceed with this matter in the future,” he says.


“We don’t want to waste our time and money trying to pursue something that’s never going to happen.” Abbotsford, like other municipalities, is also anxiously awaiting the report of the nine- member committee charged with proposing ways to revitalize the ALC and ALR. The report was originally expected this fall, but various sources, including agriculture ministry staff, indicate it could be available by August 1.


End to speculation Popham wasn’t available for


interviews with Country Life in BC last month but she told Tracy Sherlock of the online National Observer that the report will emphasize production and put an end to speculation and non- farm uses. “The speculation will stop,” she told


Sherlock. “You won’t be able to build a monster home, you won’t be able to use it for something else and you won’t be able to just hold it until hopefully an application will go through for an exclusion.” Agriculture ministry staff said a ban


on so-called monster homes or other uses in the ALR is in the works at present, notwithstanding an order-in- council issued July 13 limiting new cannabis farms to soil-based systems and existing crop production structures.


9


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