Buying land in the Agricultural Land Reserve in Lake Country, BC

It is land the province has set aside where agriculture is the priority use. The Agricultural Land Commission Act and its regulations take precedence over the District's zoning.

The District can be stricter than the Commission on a parcel in the reserve. It cannot allow a use the Commission prohibits.¹

Search the parcel on the Commission's ALR Property and Map Finder, by its 9 digit PID or its civic address. The Commission updates its maps four times a year, at the end of January, April, July and October.

The maps are for general reference only. For an official answer, the Commission asks you to contact its Mapping and GIS team at alcmapping@gov.bc.ca.

Do not go by the title alone: the Commission says a title's ALR notation is not a definitive way to confirm it, in either direction.²

One principal residence with a total floor area of 500 square metres or less, about 5,380 square feet, without applying to the Commission. A larger house needs a non-adhering residential use application.

Fill counts too: soil, gravel and aggregate for the house, its driveway and its yard can cover up to 1,000 square metres without the Commission's authorization. More than that needs a Notice of Intent.³

One additional residence can go in without the Commission's approval if it is detached from the main house and there is only one residence on the property when construction starts: up to 90 square metres, about 970 square feet, on a property of 40 hectares or less where the main house is 500 square metres or less, and up to 186 square metres, about 2,000 square feet, on a larger property. Any fill for it needs a Notice of Intent.

A secondary suite is allowed only inside the principal residence. Anything beyond these limits, or a second additional residence, needs a non-adhering residential use application.

If the parcel is zoned A1 (Agriculture 1), the District allows one single detached home plus one secondary suite, and further homes for farm purposes only on land classified as farm and approved by Council.⁴

The regulations list permitted farm uses, such as a winery or cidery, farm retail sales and seasonal agri-tourism, which the District can restrict but cannot prohibit.

They also list permitted non-farm uses, such as a home-based business, a kennel or small-scale aggregate extraction under 500 cubic metres, which the District can prohibit.

Any other activity unrelated to farming needs the Commission's approval, through a non-farm use application.⁵

Only where the ALR General Regulation permits it without an application, or where the Commission approves it. Subdivision here is broad: it includes a boundary adjustment, a strata plan and a lease of more than 3 years over part of a parcel.

The Commission's rules set no minimum parcel size in the reserve. The District's A1 zone does: 3.8 hectares, about 9.4 acres, except for a homesite severance parcel on community water (2,500 square metres) or on community water and sewer (700 square metres).

A homesite severance is open only to an owner who owned and lived on the property as their principal residence on or before 21 December 1972, and it still needs the Commission's approval.⁶

You create it in the Commission's online portal, and it goes to the District first. Staff refer it, the District's Agricultural Advisory Committee may review it, and Council decides whether to send it on to the Commission.

If Council does not authorize it, the application ends there and part of the fee comes back. If it goes forward, the Commission makes the final decision: approve, approve with conditions, or refuse.

The Commission aims to send most decisions within 60 business days of receiving an application and the majority within 90, and says the clock can pause for site visits or requests for information.⁷

The fee is split equally between the District and the Commission: $900 in total for a non-adhering residential use, and $1,500 for a non-farm use, a subdivision, soil or fill, or an exclusion.

A private owner cannot apply to take land out of the reserve: exclusion applications come only from the Province, local and First Nation governments and other prescribed bodies.⁸

No. Farm class is granted by BC Assessment on application, by 31 October for the following tax year, and late applications are not accepted.

The farm income test: $10,000 a year on under 0.8 hectares (1.98 acres); $2,500 on 0.8 to 4 hectares (1.98 to 10 acres); and on more than 4 hectares, $2,500 plus 5 percent of the actual value of the area beyond 4 hectares.

The farmer's dwelling is classed as residential, not farm.⁹