By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle
An application to convert two accessory buildings to house farm workers in Osoyoos will go forward to the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC).
The Regional District of the Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) approved moving an application forward to the ALC for housing 24 temporary foreign workers.
The property at 17310 103rd St. Osoyoos is planning to expand and convert a 429 sqm (4,521 sqft) accessory building into a 500 sqm residential building for the purpose of housing 18 of the farm workers.
The property owners are also seeking to formalize the residential use of a 37 sqm temporary Britco trailer to also house six other farm workers.
The property owners explain in their application that “our objective is to house 24 temporary foreign workers who can work on the farm during wine grape growing season each year.”
The two buildings can be seen here with the Britco trailer on the left in the front. RDOS photo
The application also states that if approved, having these buildings to house temporary foreign farm workers will “free up worker housing at some of our other properties which make up the farm, such as our Tinhorn Creek and Black Sage Vineyards, which are currently being used to house workers from this parcel, and will allow us to house winery interns who are also TFWs for processing the grapes and making wine on our farm.”
The property is approximately 5.47 ha, zoned agricultural and is approximately 1.3 km northwest of the town of Osoyoos boundary.
The RDOS approved the application unanimously. The RDOS report notes that they support the application because the Electoral Area “A” Official Community Plan (OCP) Bylaw speaks to supporting “second dwellings within the ALR where they are used to support agricultural activities and purposes (e.g., workers’ housing).”
The property owners also agreed to enter into a “restrictive covenant” limiting the use of the buildings to only housing the temporary farm workers which mitigates any future use of the buildings unrelated to the operation of the farm.
