By Chad Klassen

BUILDING KAMLOOPS (Part 9): Future development relies on rezoning of agricultural land

Jul 19, 2018 | 2:44 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops consists of a mix of urban and rural land, but with a shortage of developable land within the city there is more pressure from developers and builders to free up more agricultural space. 

“It was fine. It did its purpose. I’m glad it was around, but as the city grows other things have to relax a bit,” says owner of DW Builders Doug Wittal, referring to the Agricultural Land Commission that regulates the use of agricultural land in B.C. “They have to figure out that we’re going to need that land.”

Individual parcels are part of the Agricultural Land Reserve, which comprises five per cent of B.C. total land base. In Kamloops, the city has been pushing the commission to open up more land, even though administration knows it would be earmarked for the future. 

“In time, definitely. It’s just when and what point in time, right. Do we need it today or tomorrow? Probably not right away, but in time, definitely we would,” says director of development, engineering and sustainability Marvin Kwiatkowski. “But there are some lands, and I’m talking about Westsyde where we don’t have a lot of land that’s opened up.”

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One of the most high-profile battles between the city and ALC is out at The Dunes in Westsyde where owner Bill Bilton, Sr. has tried multiple times to get a 317-unit development rezoned and approved by the commission. Bilton, Sr. has offered to give up part of his lands to the north of the golf course to satisfy the ALC. 

Bilton, Sr. wouldn’t speak to CFJC Today, saying that since the project has already been approved by city council, it’s now in the hands of administration, who are set to meet with the ALC for another hearing sometime this fall, hoping to push the project ahead.

“There’s one that the city supported, the city still supports that. We show it in Kam Plan,” notes Kwiatkowski. “But the ALR hasn’t supported that, so we’re still working on that. We plan to go and talk with the ALC on those specific items.”

It could be a similar story across Kamloops if the commission doesn’t release some agricultural land. Aberdeen Highlands Development Corporation told CFJC Today earlier in the series that 2,600 units in Aberdeen slated for future development is currently zoned as ALR land. 

A 58-unit development proposed for Rose Hill is going to a public hearing later this year, with the proponent hoping to release about 3.5 acres of land from the ALR. 

“The most important thing with ALR is recognizing it is provincial jurisdiction, but the province needs to recognize that every municipality is in a different situation, that every piece of ALR land has different best use,” says local developer Joshua Knaak with Arpa Investments. “Nobody’s saying ‘lets take the most prime farmland and pull it in and build houses on it.’ No. Prime farmland should be for farming. But perhaps there’s land in ALR that is being under-utilized, that could be utilized better.”

The city is currently working on a scoring matrix to determine what parcels of agricultural land would be best to rezone. Developers warn that if the Agricultural Land Commission doesn’t release more land in the near future, it will greatly impact affordability in Kamloops and around the province.

“The reason people move here, they get out of the Lower Mainland, they get out of the larger centres, because they have some space, they can have a house,” says Knaak. “I think if we can’t accommodate that, you’ll see prices continue to rise on those single-family residences — and not just on the new ones, but the impact that that has on the existing inventory. We get to a point where housing becomes a bit more of a challenge, and perhaps the people we attract to Kamloops, the demographics, change.”