Agricultural Land Commission Referral – Subdivision within the ALR
Administrative Recommendation: That the RDOS Board “authorise” the application for subdivision at 32231 123rd Street, Rural Oliver, to proceed to the Agricultural Land Commission;
Purpose: To facilitate a subdivision to adjust existing boundary lines of two legal parcels to create a one hectare (ha) parcel and consolidate the remainder with an adjacent parcel to create a 38.5 ha parcel.
Owners: Gary & Linda Venables 32231 123rd Street Existing OCP: Agriculture (AG) Existing Zone: Agriculture One (AG1)
Proposed Development:
An application has been lodged with the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) to permit a subdivision to occur within the Reserve (ALR) seeking the Commission’s approval in order to “subdivide their property to create a separate 1.0 ha parcel for the existing dwelling”. No new parcels will be created as a result of the proposed subdivision.
Statutory Requirements:
Under Section 34 of the Agricultural Land Commission Act, the Regional District of Okanagan- Similkameen (RDOS) must “review the application, and … forward to the commission the application together with [its] comments and recommendations”, unless Section 25(3) applies wherein the Board has the ability to refuse to “authorise” an application.
Site Context: The subject property is approximately 5.63 ha in size and is situated on the west side of 123rd street approximately 250 m west of Hwy 97 and 3.6 km south of the Town of Oliver currently the property is planted with grapes and contains one single family home. The applicant states that the property has three distinct areas separated by relatively steep slopes. Vineyards are planted on the lower and mid elevation plateau with the single family home and horse barn located on the upper bench.
Surrounding land uses include productive farmland to the west and east, crown land zoned conservation to the south, and land zoned agriculture to the north. The irrigation canal is to the east of property.
Background: Under the Electoral Area ‘C’ Rural Oliver Zoning Bylaw No. 2453, 2008, the subject property is zoned Agriculture One (AG1), with a minimum parcel size requirement of 4.0 ha.
The property to the west, owned by Hester Creek, is zoned Agricultural Two (AG2) with a minimum parcel size of 10.0 ha, is the parcel that will be consolidated with the remainder of the subject property with the proposed subdivision. That parcel is approximately 33.9 ha in size. The applicant has submitted a letter from the General Manager of Hester Creek stating that are currently in negotiations with the Venables to purchase the vineyard component of the subject property.