A recent decision by the Agricultural Land Commission to turn down a rodeo ground application near Fort St. John was the only decision that the ALC turned down flat among the roughly 20 requests they received to change the use of Peace River Regional District (PRRD) land this year, an analysis of their decisions posted online shows.
That decision 鈥� and Agriculture Minister Pat Pimm's involvement in it 鈥� have caused controversy in B.C. politics, and accusations of impropriety from officials and watchdogs.
Every year, the Agricultural Land Commission decides on a variety of applications across the province about whether or not to allow certain land within the Agricultural Land Reserve to be used for purposes other than farming.
According to its website, from January to Oct. 25, the ALC board made 20 such decisions for lands included in the PRRD.
The only application that was denied was Terry McLeod's application to the ALC for the board to reconsider its earlier decision against allowing the Fort St. John businessman to build a rodeo ground on land near the city. (McLeod's original application was filed in 2012.)
No application to convert farm use to industrial uses was denied. As well, applications from both BC Hydro and the Ministry of Transportation were allowed. One private landowner's request to exclude land from the ALR was allowed also.
In its decision against McLeod, the Commission said a great deal of land in the area was "already earmarked for the kinds of uses proposed" by McLeod.
One other decision that was partially refused was a request from two landowners to subdivide 18.5 hectares of their property near Farmington.
However, in its decision, the ALC allowed these landowners to subdivide a different 18-hectare section of land on another property that they also owned. This was conditional on the subdivision meeting other local and provincial government requirements.
No accommodations were made in the ALC's decision to deny McLeod's reconsideration request.
All other reconsideration decisions the ALC made in 2013 were also granted. However, in these cases, the Commission noted that new evidence had been presented. In the decision against McLeod, the ALC said no new evidence had been presented.
The trend of approvals also showed itself in other ALC decisions made within northern B.C. Of the 13 decisions that took place outside PRRD borders, only two were refused.
The first refusal was a couple's attempt to subdivide hectares of their land for their children near Prince George.
According to the ALC, the subdivision the couple proposed "will sever productive hayfields and ultimately divide the arable portions of the property. The Commission believes the parcel has greater agricultural utility as a larger farm parcel."
No other options were presented for this couple.
The second refusal was to subdivide a 62-hectare parcel into a 14-hectare parcel for owners of land near Hazelton. They found that the subdivision proposal was "inconsistent with the objective of the Agricultural Land Commission Act to preserve and encourage agriculture."
No other options were presented in that case, as well.
