Monday, January 10, 2022
A change in Provincial policy means private landowners looking to have property excluded from the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) will now have to make their application through their local government.
This means the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD) is now required to make all ALR exclusion applications relating to property within its rural areas. As such, the CSRD has developed a new policy which will be followed when reviewing ALR exclusion requests from private landowners.
ALR Exclusion Policy P-24 involved a three-stage approach for landowners which includes fees for each stage of the process as outlined:
The Provincial policy change did not sit well with some members of the CSRD Board of Directors, who said the move was a downloading of services onto local governments and an erosion of the rights of private landowners to present their own cases to the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) for approval or denial.
To accommodate the provincial changes, the Board unanimously approved the new CSRD policy.
Private landowners are encouraged to contact Development Services Staff to review the new ALR Exclusion Policy and discuss their potential application before initiating an application to the CSRD. More information and ALR exclusion forms can be found on the CSRD's website.
View printable copy (PDF).
