Saanich on 麻豆传媒映画Island wants to see what it can do to restrict monster houses from being built on agricultural land.
Councillors have unanimously endorsed a proposal from Coun. Dean Murdock to have staff review agricultural zones with regard to house size and location, and report back on options.
鈥淎t the moment, with the exception of setbacks from your neighbour鈥檚 property and whatever you would need as a setback from your septic field or septic tank, there aren鈥檛 really any restrictions on how big a house could be built,鈥� Murdock said.
鈥淪o we鈥檙e seeing these large farm properties with some very large homes going on them, and this is a way we could maybe bring some rules around how big those homes could be.鈥�
The idea would be for Saanich staff to do 鈥渁n environmental scan and see what other communities are doing in response to this,鈥� Murdock said.
鈥淭hey would come back with some options for council to consider that would likely result in us amending the agriculture zones to put restrictions on the maximum house size.鈥�
The goal is to prevent 鈥渧aluable, arable, food-producing land鈥� from being eaten up by housing, he said. 鈥淥nce you pave it and put a house on it, it鈥檚 a lot harder to put it back into food production in the future.鈥�
Monster houses on Agricultural Land Reserve properties receive the benefit of agricultural tax rates, but are not actually working farms, Murdock said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 in effect a large estate. It was protected for the purpose of those lands going for food production and this is having a longer-term effect, where those houses are not being farmed,鈥� he said.
鈥淔arm land is intended for farming and not for large mansions.鈥�
Former Saanich mayor Frank Leonard, outgoing chairman of the Agricultural Land Commission, has cited Metro 麻豆传媒映画monster houses being built on the Agricultural Land Reserve as a significant issue facing the province.
While not yet a particular problem on 麻豆传媒映画Island, in the Interior or the North, in Metro 麻豆传媒映画it is a huge problem in areas such as Richmond, Leonard said in an interview.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e having someone buy ALR land in Richmond, building a 10,000-square-foot mansion plus tennis court, pool and outbuildings and only producing $10,000 in revenue and then paying next to nothing in property taxes.
鈥淪o the ALR land is essentially lost,鈥� Leonard said.
While the monster-house problem has touched the Island, it鈥檚 not a problem 鈥渋n the world beyond Hope,鈥� he said.
The Agricultural Land Reserve was created in 1973 to protect 4.7聽million hectares of farmland, because only five per cent of B.C.鈥檚 land area is considered suitable for agriculture. At that time, 6,000 hectares of farmland was being lost to development each year. That pace has slowed to 600聽hectares a year.
Murdock, who has announced he will not seek re-election in October, hopes Saanich staff will report back before the end of this term.
鈥淚f I鈥檓 not there to vote on it when it comes around, I鈥檒l be watching the webcast at home and rooting for council to do the right thing.鈥�
