Questions around kennels, and livestock and poultry slaughtering and processing, have the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) looking at changes to the proposed Agriculture (AG) zoning bylaw.
The AG zones are supposed to replace the current Rural Use 3 (RU3) zoning to “broaden agricultural and farm opportunities” and to bring zoning rules for land within the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) in line with the latest provincial regulations.
At a public hearing April 12, several people raised concerns around setbacks, claiming they would be so large that they’d actually discourage instead of encourage agriculture. Others brought forward the fact that although kennels are allowed in parts of Areas E and F under RU3 zoning, they wouldn’t be a permitted use under the AG zoning.
SCRD staff came back to the planning and development committee May 19 with revisions to deal with those issues. They included reducing the required setbacks for animal slaughter and processing, agricultural waste storage, and areas used for preparing and storing a mushroom growing medium.
The proposal also suggested going ahead with a third reading of the bylaw, and dealing with the kennel situation in a separate bylaw later on.
However, Elphinstone director Lorne Lewis said he’s worried that isn’t fair to kennel operators or people who might want to open kennels in the future.
Lewis sought assurances that established kennels would be allowed to remain as “existing, non-conforming” and not face closure but also pushed to have kennels included as a permitted use under AG zoning.
“People really value their kennels in our neighbourhood,” Lewis told the committee. “I believe they provide a very valuable service, and I’m really concerned that this was overlooked.”
Frank Mauro of Pender Harbour noted the current draft of the bylaw is too vague on animal slaughtering. He said a smaller setback would be OK, if the slaughtering and processing is done indoors, but he doesn’t see anything in the wording to spell out the difference between that and open-air slaughtering.
In the end, the committee voted to send the bylaw back for further review to clarify the wording on setbacks for animal slaughter and reinstate kennels as a permitted use in Areas E and F. Those changes are significant enough to trigger a new public hearing.
Roberts Creek director Mark Lebbell said he’s not entirely comfortable with going to a second public hearing because of the potential for delay.
“This bylaw has taken a while to get through,” he said. “I know my community is very interested in not only this bylaw but what can follow from here in terms of looking at non-ALR land and [being] ready to support agriculture on non-ALR land.”
SCRD staff are expected to bring a new report forward at the June 2 committee meeting, and a new public hearing will be set for late June or early July.
