The City is looking for public comments concerning City lands in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR). By June 30, provide your feedback on the City’s application to exclude from the ALR a portion of City property located at 4690 Highway 97 North. The exclusion application is being made pursuant to Section 29(1) of the Agricultural Land Commission Act and includes 40 acres of the 140-acre property.

The proposed exclusion of this property from the ALR would allow for the future re-location and expansion of the Kelowna Regional Transit facility, currently located on Hardy Street in Kelowna. The expansion would allow for increased transit service in order to meet long-term transit demand in the Central Okanagan.

Property (140 acres)	Proposed exclusion area (40 acres)

Agricultural impact

Agricultural impact assessment

• Proposed use consistent with Official Community Plan and future land use designation
• Soil is not viable for significant agricultural use
• Site determined to be compromised for long-term agricultural use

Mitigation strategy

To offset the removal of this land from the ALR, the City intends to:

• Lease remnant parcels to new farmers
• Attempt to salvage soil from the property for agricultural use at alternate locations
• Promote agriculture in the region through the City's Agricultural Plan

Update: The City is committed to doing its best to salvage any soil from this site to be relocated to viable agricultural parcels. We anticipate that this will be very limited in nature given the independent report provided to the City regarding soil viability. Although the City has so far not found interest in farming the remnant parcels, we are hopeful that innovative farm use may emerge on the remnant lands.

Background

In July 2017, Council approved the acquisition of 4690 Hwy 97 N in support of multiple civic objectives. At that time, Council also supported the application to exclude this property from the Agricultural land Reserve (ALR).

A transit facility location analysis has been conducted, and the site at 4690 Hwy 97 N remains the best best option for relocation of the transit facility on the basis of location and cost.

140 acres of land was acquired as a strategic investment to support future relocation of civic facilities and to ensure future transportation needs were adequately protected. The acquisition and proposed redevelopment of the property is supported by the property's future land use designation.

In 1995, the Agricultural Land Commission acknowledged the site to be seriously compromised for long term agricultural use based on the isolation of the property and proximity of the university lands to the north.