After voting to back the company’s application for non-farm use of ALR land, the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) board seems ready to back Persephone Brewing’s effort to have the rules changed.
The Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) recently rejected Persephone’s application, and the ruling was part of the correspondence the SCRD dealt with at its Jan. 12 planning and community development committee meeting.
The ALC cited the rules that call for 50 per cent of the ingredients in beer brewed on an ALR lot to be grown on that land before a brewery and tasting lounge would be allowed. The commission also noted that Persephone has been in violation of ALR regulations since it first opened in 2013.
Roberts Creek director Mark Lebbell said the message he took away from the public engagement effort in the lead-up to the board’s July 2016 vote to support the Persephone application was that the business is valued by the community and “becoming a bit of an institution.”
Director Ian Winn of West Howe Sound, where Persephone is located, said the decision puts the board in a difficult position. “There are many aspects to it [Persephone’s operation] that we have previously discussed with what’s happening on the property, use of, and things like that, but at the crux of it is the 50 per cent clause … and that needs to be addressed first and foremost.”
Winn suggested a resolution at the upcoming Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) and Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) meetings might spur changes.
Silas White, the director for Gibsons, told the committee he favoured a more direct approach. “I think it might be best for us to directly advocate on behalf of the Sunshine Coast to the provincial government and the Ministry of Agriculture,” he said, noting that it might be tough to drum up support from delegates who aren’t seeing the same issue in their communities.
“This was actually a request for an exemption based on a lot of other factors that were listed in the SCRD report, and listed in the application,” White said. “None of those are even considered in this decision that’s come back. I think that’s disappointing.”
SCRD chief administrative officer Janette Loveys said staff are reviewing a letter from Persephone and plan to bring a report to directors soon. She also had words of caution. “There’s obviously the specifics around this particular file, but there’s also future applications that this committee will see. In the context of advocacy around policy changes, we need to be cognizant of the fact future decisions could be impacted.”
On the same day as the SCRD committee meeting, Persephone CEO Brian Smith published an open letter to the agriculture minister.
That letter says, in part, “You will recall announcing the province’s deliberate intention to see more breweries in the ALR. ‘Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick noted hops farming is on an upswing in areas such as Chilliwack and Kamloops, and predicts the rule change will create an incentive for more farmers to take a risk and get into beverage production.’ Persephone took that risk and are now facing eviction from the ALR as a result of the current wording in the regulations.”
Company representatives have also taken to social media encouraging people to write their MLAs to “tell them that you support farm-based breweries in your region and that they should too. Identify the fact that the ALR regulations need improvement to make that possible, but that in principal you want to see value-added business models contribute to the viability of local farming.”
The company also asks supporters to write the minister asking questions like, “Why is barley considered a more important farm product than hops?”
