· Preserving Farmland: Legislation introduced
today supports the ALC focusing its resources on its core functions. The
legislation would place a five-year moratorium on repeat applications to the
ALC.
· Sustainable Operations: An additional $1.6
million provides the ALC with resources to transition to a more self-supporting
operating model by 2013. The proposed legislation would also allow the ALC to
charge service fees to augment provincial funding. The fee structure will be
set by provincial regulation following consultation with producers, local
governments and other stakeholders.
· Increased Enforcement: The Province has
already increased the number of provincial government officials authorized to
investigate and respond to ALR violations to approximately 30 through
coordinated multi-ministry enforcement. The proposed legislation would further
expand enforcement by allowing qualified officials from other government agencies
and levels of government to conduct enforcement activities.
· Strategic Governance: The recruitment of a chief
executive officer (CEO) for the ALC is underway. The CEO will lead the ALC’s
evolution into a sustainably structured organization. The proposed legislation
would also enable the chair of the ALC to have greater oversight of regional
panels to ensure fairness, transparency and consistency in the decision-making
process.
· Upgraded Information
Services:
Government ministries and agencies are already working to improve the ALC’s
business processes and information management capacity through its online application tracking
system. Upon completion, this effort will provide enhanced web services to
clients through full integration with the Province’s online mapping database
and interactive tools.
· Encouraging Farming: These changes will free
up resources to allow the Province and the ALC to be more proactive in their
work with local governments to encourage agriculture in their land use plans,
bylaws and policies, and to promote agriculture, farm diversification and value-added
processing in their communities.
· A new minister’s bylaw
standard:
The bylaw standard provides local governments with a ready-to-use model that
restricts building large residential homes in the centre of ALR lots and
ensures the majority of the land is preserved for agricultural use. The
resulting standard follows extensive consultation with local governments,
agriculture producers, stakeholders and the general public. The standard is
posted at:
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
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