Public policy and the preservation of agricultural land in the southern Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Date
1975
Authors
Fumalle, Michael John
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
During the last decade, a great deal of concern has been raised in British Columbia over the loss of agricultural land to urban development; notably. the reduction of orchard land in the Okanagan Valley. Good agricultural land in British Columbia is in relatively short supply, and the Okanagan Valley is the only area in western Canada where tree fruit can be commercially produced. In response to this concern, the provincial government adopted the Land Commission Act in 1973 in an attempt to preserve agricultural land in British Columbia. This thesis examines the extent of urban encroachment on orchard land in the southern Okanagan, factors involved in the land conversion process, and evaluates the impact of the Land Commission Act on the process.
The rural to urban land conversion process is conceptualized as a complex set of independent but interrelated decisions being made by numerous actors. Each decision in the process is influenced by the personal motives and preferences of the actors, the locational and physical characteristics of the site, and by public policy, which establishes the framework in which private decisions are made. Public policy is viewed as the key element in the land conversion process; it is public policy which must be changed if the developing land use patterns are considered contrary to the public's interest.
An air photo interpretation and computer mapping analysis revealed that the majority of urban development was located on the best agricultural land, and that this trend was accelerating between 1963 and 1970. Moreover, urban growth tended to occur in a very scattered form, which alienates additional orchard land held with orchardists, realtors, and government officials indicated that orchard land has been the most attractive location for new urban development.
Prior to the Land Commission Act, urban development occurred on orchard land despite public land use controls. Direct influence on land use was provided by zoning by-laws, but these were not designed to preserve orchard land; in fact, they encouraged conversion by placing more restrictive zoning on agricultural land. Other public policies, such as subdivision, taxation, sewage disposal, and water supply regulations, indirectly influenced land conversion by making orchard land very attractive for development.
The Land Commission Act altered the land conversion process in the southern Okanagan by the establishment of an "agricultural reserve," in which subdivision and urban uses are restricted. The conversion of land to urban uses requires the exclusion of land from the agricultural reserve, and these decisions are made in most cases by the Provincial Land Commission. This new public policy can be expected to reduce the scatteration of urban development in orchard areas, reduce the amount of good orchard land taken out of production, and result in a more compact form of urban growth when it does occur-on orchard land.
However, the reasons why orchard land was converted to urban uses in the past will continue to exist in the future, and in many ways orchard land will still be the most attractive for development. As population and the demand for residential property increase, pressures will mount to have land excluded from the agricultural reserve unless alternative areas are feasible for development.
This new public policy views the loss of orchard land as the primary problem; however, the main problem is uncontrolled urban growth. The loss of agricultural land is only one consequence of such growth. The preservation of agricultural land must be viewed as one component of an overall provincial land policy stressing the definition of objectives, the coordination of regulatory techniques, the cooperation of administrative agencies, and the introduction of positive policies and programs to take more initiative and responsibility in shaping the form of future_ urban growth and the resolution of conflicts such as the loss of agricultural land.