By Lexi McFarlane, Times Chronicle
A total of eight properties in the Town of Osoyoos are being added on to a prior submission to the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) for exemption from agricultural designation, bringing the total to 70.
At the March 24 Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting, Council received a presentation from Town Planner Shannon Duong about the properties.
Those properties in question are almost all located along Wren Place, with two exceptions: one being adjacent to Wren Place, with an address of 6806 97th Street, and the other being a 0.9-hectare parcel of land at 9425 87th Street.
The proposal from Duong would see all eight properties be added to an ALC submission, initiated at the December 9, 2025 COW meeting, to exclude a total of 62 properties located within the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) that are seeing non-agricultural use.
Currently, all properties except the 87th Street parcel are zoned for low-density residential use by the Town of Osoyoos in the current OCP bylaw.
The 87th Street property is the most unique case of all of the properties mentioned. Initially, this parcel of land wasn’t even within the official boundaries of the Town of Osoyoos. However, with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen not supporting the owner’s ALR exclusion request, the owner in 2018 applied to the Town of Osoyoos to have the boundaries expanded to include their property.
Map showing ALR properties in Osoyoos.
Town of Osoyoos map
In 2021, the property was included in the Town’s boundaries. However, the provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs provided a memo to Osoyoos with comments, including from the ALC, who were against the extension of the town boundaries to include that property.
An assessment and report performed by an agrologist determined that the 0.9-hectare chunk of the 87th Street property was once the site of a KVR rail bed and, due to a lack of topsoil, would not be suitable for any agricultural use.
Councillor Myers Bennett asked for clarification over whether or not being under the ALR meant the Wren Place properties were given “farm” status at all, and whether they would lose it if exempted from the ALR.
“They don’t have farm status, but they are… according to BC Assessment, subject to the ALC Act,” Duong said. “And they are meeting those criteria in terms of property use, so residential.”
Councillor Johnny Cheong wondered how residential properties could even be built within the ALR zones.
“If it’s in the ALR, and we know how fickle the ALR (is), rightfully so… Do you know a little bit of the history as to how this even started?”
Duong said it is very likely these properties predate the 1972 establishment of the ALR.
“Based on my preliminary research of it, a number of these properties would have been developed for residential purposes prior to the establishment of the ALR. So you may have a number of lots that were subdivided, and then single-family homes were put on, since the 50’s or 60’s.”
Councillor Zach Poturica wanted to verify whether the ALC would approve or reject all applications at once, or if they would be able to decide on each of them individually.
“My understanding is that the Commission can select which ones they would be okay with having excluded,” Duong answered.
The CoW approved the motion to include all eight properties in the ALR exemption application, bringing the total now to 70 properties. A public hearing on the matter is scheduled for April 28.
