Province strengthens Agricultural Land Commission
By Contributor
Farmers and ranchers on Agricultural Reserve Land will have more tools to protect their way of life as a result of proposed legislation, increased funding and other measures to improve the operations of the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC.
Improvements to the ALC will be made in several areas:
- Preserving farmland by placing a five-year moratorium on repeat applications for items such as excluding land from the ALR.
- Sustainable operations through additional funding and provisions for increased revenue generation by the ALC.
- Increased enforcement capacity through shared resources.
- Strategic governance provisions give the chair additional oversight over regional panels and more time to focus on commission matters by hiring a CEO to look after administrative issues.
- Upgraded online application tracking system to provide enhanced web services to clients.
- Encouraging farming by working more proactively with local governments rather than simply reacting to applications.
- A new minister’s bylaw standard regarding residential uses in the ALR.
The chair’s report is available at: http://www.gov.bc.ca/agri/alcreview.html
The proposed legislation is posted as part of Bill 19 at: http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th4th/1st_read/index.htm
