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Overview Of The Agricultural Land Commission Act

In This Volume

The Act establishes the provincial agricultural land reserve comprising the total of all agricultural land in British Columbia. The purposes of the Provincial Agricultural Land Commission (the “commission”), pursuant to s. 6(1), are to preserve the agricultural land reserve, to encourage farming of land within the agricultural land reserve in collaboration with other communities of interest, and to encourage local governments, First Nations, the government, and its agents to enable and accommodate farm use of land within the agricultural land reserve and uses compatible with agriculture in their plans, bylaws, and policies. Effective March 12, 2020, s. 6(2) requires the commission, to fulfill its purposes, to give priority to protecting and enhancing the size, integrity, and continuity of the land base of the agricultural land reserve and its use for “farm use” as that term is defined in the Agricultural Land Commission Act.

GENERAL EFFECT ON LAND TITLE PRACTICE

The commission makes decisions on the inclusion or exclusion of land within the reserve and hears applications for the use and subdivision of agricultural land. The registrar must not accept an application for the deposit of a subdivision plan for land within the agricultural land reserve unless the subdivision is permitted under the Agricultural Land Commission Act or the regulations or by order of the commission.

Effective September 30, 2020, s. 18.1 requires applications for statutory rights of way (as defined) to be accompanied by the prescribed form as proof notice has been given to the commission; see “18.1 Notice of statutory right of way” in this chapter.

Also effective September 30, 2020, s. 52.1 requires the registrar to endorse a title when the chief executive officer files a notice of remediation order in the land title office. Based upon this filing, the registrar endorses the title with a “notice of remediation order” legal notation. These notices are cancelled under s. 52.2 if stipulated conditions are met.

Section 60(2) of the Act requires the registrar to make an endorsement on every indefeasible title to agricultural land issued after June 29, 1973, indicating that the title may be affected by the Act. Titles issued before this date are subject to the Act and the regulations without endorsement.