ALC denies application

Members of the Vaseux Lake Stewardship Association are breathing a sigh of relief now that the province’s Agricultural Land Commission has rejected an application to develop a 35site recreational vehicle campground on the shores of the South Okanagan lake.

Late last week, the ALC issued its reasons for denying the application on the waterfront, located adjacent to the Ramification Cellars Winery, despite noting the applicant had completed several agricultural improvements on the property since its purchase in 2006, including upgrades to irrigation, grape planting, fencing and the installation of a wine production facility that produces 4,600 litres of wine annually.

The ALC, which has a mandate to preserve agricultural land across the province and encourage farming of land within the agricultural land reserve in collaboration with provincial municipalities, said allowing a campground of this size on prime agricultural land was inappropriate.

Norm Gaumont, the chair of the VLSA since its inception in the summer of 2017, said the membership was relieved with the decision.

“The association is ecstatic with the decision,” said Gaumont, in a phone interview. “We are very happy that they recognized the sensitivity of the lake and the fact that it is home to a bird sanctuary.

“Allowing a 35-pad trailer park was just not appropriate for our lake.”

Public opposition to the campground, which included a petition that was signed by hundreds, definitely played a key role in the ALC rejecting the application, said Gaumont.

“The outpouring of support we received was tremendous,” said

Gaumont, a retired RCMP member who was named Oliver’s Volunteer of the Year several years ago. “There’s no doubt that this support weighed heavily on the ALC’s decision.”

While there is much relief, he and members of the association won’t be holding any formal celebration of the ALC decision as the applicant has the right to appeal and likely will, Gaumont said.

“We will wait until the results of the appeal process before we will officially say we’re not worried about this anymore,” he said.

The applicant does have the right to build a smaller, 10-site campground, but that “wouldn’t likely be economical” and he is confident that will not happen.

VLSA members will now concentrate on two major issues that have been a priority for the past several years, he said.

First, they want the Okanagan Basin Water Board to include Vaseux Lake in its successful and long-established rototilling program, which helps control and reduce the amount of Eurasian milfoil that has become problematic in so many Okanagan lakes over the past two decades.

Second, there is “heavy siltation happening at the north end of the lake and this has to be addressed or we’re going to lose a huge chunk of our lake here in the next few years.”

There have been ongoing negotiations with the water board and provincial government to get Vaseux Lake included in the milfoil rototilling program and he’s confident good news will be forthcoming in the next few months, said Gaumont.

“We’ve been waiting since 2017 on this and I have to admit, we’re getting pretty impatient,” he said. “This is something we’ll really be pushing forward with over the next year.”

In its decision, the ALC wrote that the property in question has had campground uses prior to 1972, no evidence was submitted that the campground use has been continuous and, therefore, does not qualify for exceptions relating to non-farm use.

An application in 1979 to build a nine-hole golf course and expand the existing campground was rejected as the commission determined the property has “excellent agricultural capability.” At the time, the campground was stated to occupy five acres, with the 15 remaining acres in orchard production. The 36 campsites were split between two properties, with 22 located on the subject property.

In 1993, another application was issued to develop the campground south of the adjacent property into a strata campground, but that was also rejected by the ALC.

A 2006 application to develop a 64-unit campground and develop the rest of the property as a vineyard and winery, but was also rejected as the commission considered “that permitting further residential uses would impact the agricultural capability of the property.” However, the commission was prepared to consider a revised proposal that would include a vineyard and winery on the property and reduce the development imprint of the proposed campground expansion.

Another 2006 request to develop 12 lakeshore lots and develop a vineyard/winery on the remaining 2.9 hectares would “erode the productive land base.” However, the ALC approved the development of a 1.2 hectare area along the lakefront for 12 residential lots, subject to conditions.

In 2010, the ALC approved a subdivision of the lakeshore area and 29 RV strata lots, as well as planting of a vineyard, which had to be in within three years of the decision.

The Regional District of OkanaganSimilkameen denied an Official

Community Plan zoning amendment to create a 12-lot subdivision on the property in 2009 and denied a similar application in 2013, which resulted in the project not moving forward within the three-year time frame.

The latest application for the 35-unit campground was submitted this past February.

“Based on the agricultural capability ratings, the panel finds that the property has prime agricultural capability,” read last week’s decision. “While the panel recognizes that the proposal area has historically been used for a campground and has previously been approved by the commission … the panel considered that the proposal area is of prime agricultural capability, has not been used as a campground for some time and that the panel is not bound to previous decisions of the commission.

“In coming to its decision, the panel must consider the preservation of agricultural land for farm use as per its mandate.”