Back in the ALR (You don’t know how lucky you are)
Almost one year ago today the Government of British Columbia enacted substantial changes to the Agricultural Land Reserve legislation relating to the construction of dwellings on ALR designated property, by basically eliminating the ability to have secondary dwellings on ALR property.
It sounds like, it’s all going to change, again.
Through a policy intentions release dated Jan 27, 2020, the Minister of Agriculture indicated that it is developing a new framework for secondary residences that is more flexible than it used to be.
The intention will be to allow, in addition to the primary residence, “a small secondary residence”, which may include the following considerations:
– a manufactured secondary home with conditions such as whether:
a. the foundation type should be limited to a concrete slab and no basement;
b. it can be restricted to a maximum of 9 meters in width and 22.86 meters in length; and
c. it can be restricted to the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Z240 Manufactured Home (MH) series.
– a garden suite, guest house or carriage suite (e.g. usually meaning a detached dwelling, often no larger than 90m2 ).
– accommodation above an existing building on a farm with conditions on what type of existing structure it could be built on and whether it can be located on a parcel that already has a suite in the principal residence.
– permitting a principal residence to be constructed in addition to a manufactured home that was placed as the first principal residence.
None of this is final, but is indicated as a policy direction and development guidance document.
If you are considering making an application to the ALC for a primary or secondary dwelling, and you would like some assistance give us a call.
Read more from the Government of BC here.
If you would like to learn more about options or to discuss your project, get in touch with us at info@builtprefab.com or head back to our site at https://builtprefab.com where you can learn more about us, our product, and our process.
Built Prefab designs and manufactures premium prefab modular homes in Kelowna, British Columbia and ships them across Western Canada.