ALC DENIES the West Abbotsford ALR Exclusion!!

Source - ALR Exclusion Application

Updated Feb. 23, 2016 - Bradner CELEBRATES as it learns of the ALC's decision to deny the ALR exclusion that would have destroyed 225 acres of prime farming land in the rural farming community.

The City of Abbotsford voted to support an application to exclude 22 properties located in west Abbotsford, in our rural farming community of Bradner BC in 2012. The Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) application was from the Pacific Land Group on behalf of 0903475 BC Ltd. (principles: Ron Emerson and Joseph Segal) to exclude 22 properties totalling nearly 91 ha (225 acres) from the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR).

An Abbotsford city counsellor, Patricia Ross commented that the developer plans to take another go at pushing the application through the ALC by re-submitting the application within the 60 day period of appeal after a decision... so what the motivation?? Money. 

The City of Abbotsford made it's recommendation that support for the ALR exclusion be conditional upon contribution to the Agricultural Enhancement Endowment Fund (AEEF) at a rate of $20,000 per acre at the time of rezoning... which infuriated Bradner residents, as the move was viewed as greedy and corrupt. To many Bradner residents their properties are invaluable, been in their families for many generations and they take special care of it year after year as a life source. Their land is not worth any amount of money, no matter how much - and facing expropriations was a huge dark cloud over the community for nearly 4 years.

The "swindling" of land in trade of money would have resulted in a potential contribution of up to approximately $4.5 million from the subject lands and up to approximately $6 million including neighbouring properties. The AEEF is managed by the Abbotsford Community Foundation.

The 22 properties in slated were mostly bounded by Highway 1 to the south, Lefeuvre Road to the east, 56 Avenue/Harris Road to the north and Gloucester Industrial Estates in the Township of Langley to the west.

The applicant wanted to develop a comprehensively planned logistics and multi-tenant industrial park for large logistics companies needing 8 ha + (20 ac+) of land. This site was targeted due to its proximity to Highway 1 to the south, rail access to the north and its large contiguous area. But area residents know that Townshipline Road access is truck route restricted and have not been satisfied in the past with supposed planning - the so called planning of roads at the Mt Lehman/Hwy 1 interchange & the higglty-pigglty way into High Street Mall are a headache to say the least.

Many residents of Bradner and Mt Lehman attended public information meetings at the Bradner Community Hall on October 22, 2012, the Matsqui Recreation Centre on October 30, 2012 and on November 19, 2012 when the public was invited to provide Council with input on the ALR exclusion application. 

The proposal was presented to the Agricultural Advisory Committee (AAC) on February 13, 2013 and March 20, 2013. At the March 20 meeting, the Committee considered the motion to support the proposal. The Committee vote was tied resulting in a defeated motion. Subsequently, at the request of the chair, the project was reconsidered at the April 17, 2013 meeting resulting in a majority vote (7-2) to support the ALR exclusion application. 
The proposal was also presented to the Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC) on September 19, 2012 and April 3, 2013. The EDAC subsequently passed a motion to support the ALR exclusion application on April 24, 2013. 

Bradner is over joyed with the recent ALC decision to deny the exclusion of ALR land. The purposes of the ALC as stated in Section 6 of the Agricultural Land Commission Act are:

(a)  to preserve agricultural land;
(b)  to encourage farming on agricultural land in collaboration with other communities of interest;
(c)  to encourage local governments, first nations, the government and its agents to enable and accommodate farm use of agricultural land and uses compatible with agriculture in their plans, bylaws and policies.

BC’s Land Commission Act came into effect April 18, 1973. A new Commission, appointed by the Provincial government and working in partnership with local governments, established a special land use zone to protect BC’s dwindling supply of agricultural land – an "Agricultural Land Reserve." Reserve boundaries were based on the capability and suitability of the land, its present use, local zoning and input from public hearings. ALR plans for 23 of BC’s 28 regional districts were completed by 1975; in total they protected the 5% of BC judged to be most critical to the province’s food production. The legislation was intended to improve the decision-making while respecting the Commission and government’s interest in preserving farmland and encouraging agriculture.

The normal business of the Commission was often overshadowed in these years by Cabinet’s approval of controversial development proposals. Gloucester Industrial Estates in Langley, the Terra Nova proposal in Richmond, the Spetifore property in Delta and several others became the focus of heated public debate, locally and across BC. These debates served to reaffirm, rather than weaken, the public’s commitment to protecting agricultural land and the ALC continued to enjoy widespread support. For example, an opinion survey in 1997 found that more than 80% of British Columbians considered it unacceptable to remove land from the ALR for urban uses. 

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The Barker Belongs to Bradner!