November Update

Greetings Bloggers,

     This will be short and sweet.  Update on the gravel pit petition.  The petition drive now has approximately 1000 signatures and there is an online petition available for anyone that is interested.  It is at the link below:
http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/agriculture-land-commission-of-bc-turn-down-the-request-to-allow-nonfarm-use-a-gravel-pit-on-the-agricultural-land-known-as-5801-brentwood-rd-in-the-bx-ravine-vernon-bc 
     There are 30 signatures out of 70 needed.  I am not sure how the total number of 70 was arrived at, but if your interested please fill out the required information.  One signer, the farthest away is out of Lakeland, Florida. Others cite Calgary and others cite Langley as their locale.
     There is more information or developments ongoing and we will post the information when available.

      Speaking of the A.L.C., the "Globe and Mail" article http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/sacrosanct-agricultural-land-commission-eyed-for-breakup/article15306864/?cmpid=rss1  is quite concerning.  As the points below were reported to be from "confidential government documents"

•     Create two A.L.R. areas with different rules.

•     Change the A.L.C.’s legislative mandate, in one or both ALR areas

•     Remove some decisions from the A.L.C.

•     Community growth applications decided by local governments.

•     Modernize A.L.C. operations by moving the A.L.C. into the Ministry.

From the link within the article ( http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bc-government-documents-summarize-proposal-to-dismantle-agricultural-land-commission/article15322690/ )
The proposed changes, if approved, will:

     1) Dismantle the Agricultural Land Commission – staff and their functions will move into the Ministry of Agriculture. There will be regional panels but decisions will be able to be appealed to a third party and overturned.

     2) Change the mandate of the ALC – the ALC will be required to give equal weight to economic development as well as agriculture.

     3) Create two classes of ALR – one area will be status quo – this will be the Okanagan and Fraser Valley-Vancouver Island. The other area will cover the Interior, Kootenays and everything north of the Okanagan, where the rules will be “anything goes.”

     4) Change what local governments can and can’t do around land use decisions.

     5) Make oil and gas decisions the priority land use decisions and the Oil and Gas Commission the primary authority.

Please share your comments below or with your provincial representative (M.L.A.) as this doesn't really help the agriculture culture in British Columbia.

Thanks for your interest, until next time.