The Sechelt (British Columbia) council has voted to recommend the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) consider a non-farm use application for an ALR property being used as an RV park, according to the Coast Reporter.
The Double R Ranch at 6540 Reeves Rd. in Porpoise Bay, has been operating a campground since at least 2008, when the district issued a business license allowing three RV sites.
The business license was amended in 2011 to add seven more sites.
All this time, however, the RV sites have been in contravention of the ALC rules for non-farm use of ALR property – a fact that was only discovered when the current owners failed to pay their business license fees for 2017-18 and the district canceled the business license.
The report also says the Double R Ranch does not qualify as an “agri-tourism” business under the ALC regulations.
Although it’s not an approved use for ALR property, the campsite is allowed under the district’s zoning for the area.
The planning department recommended the council authorize the submission of an application for non-farm use but ask the ALC to add two conditions if the application is approved: that the campground is restricted to its current area and that it be limited to the existing 10 sites.
Councilmember Matt McLean said he was concerned about the use of the site for long-term accommodation, which planner Sven Koberwitz noted in the report was happening.
Koberwitz also said, however, that “staff is not endorsing continued residential use of RV sites at Double R Ranch due to life-safety risks associated with the long-term residential use of RVs.”
He also said that while the relevant zoning bylaw says a campground is “intended to be occupied and maintained for the temporary accommodation of travelers,” the district doesn’t have a strict definition of when a campground use goes from short-term to long-term.
Mayor Darnelda Siegers wanted to know about the enforcement of the business license requirements.
“We’re in a position now where we wouldn’t be able to issue a business license until the non-farm use application is considered and approved,” Koberwitz said. “Currently, it would not conform as a campground use under our zoning bylaws. So if the ALC comes back and denies this application, our bylaw enforcement officers would deal with the property in order to seek compliance.”
Koberwitz said that includes ordering the campground removed from the property if the ALC denies the application for non-farm use. If the application is approved, the district would move to make sure “it’s actually being used as a campground for the traveling public, rather than full-time residential occupancy.”
