building your home in the agricultural land reserve
Are you looking to build your new home on Agricultural land in BC? You may want to research all the restrictions from the local authorities and the Agricultural Land Commission Act (ALC).
If your new home meets all the requirements of the ALC, building your home should go quite smoothly but if you veer away, in any way, from the regulations outlined in the ALC Act you may be in for a long battle. At the time of this post some of the regulations are:
Restrictions for houses in the ALR:
Total finished floor area of your home cannot exceed 500 square meters (5,381 square feet). If a basement is more than 50% below grade, it may be excluded from the maximum floor area. The maximum size attached garage permitted is 45 square meters (484.4 square feet). Any additional garage area will be added to the finished floor area. Homes in the ALR which are not in a flood plain require a "Notice of Intent" (NOI) from the ALC. This process can take anywhere from 2-6 months or longer.
Restrictions for secondary suites and coach houses in the ALR: Only a coach house is permitted in the ALR. The coach house is a two-storey building, maximum 90 square meters (968 square feet) which has the lower floor as a garage for the principal use only and the upper floor only is the secondary suite.
The areas for the suite are taken as the gross floor area to the inside of the exterior walls and to the exterior posts of decks and patios.
The lower floor garage cannot be larger than the 2nd floor suite.
Secondary suites are not permitted in existing farm buildings unless the building's total footprint is 90 m² or less. This seems to undermine the ALC's core mandate of preserving farmland — rather than allowing an existing structure to be repurposed, the policy effectively pushes property owners to construct an entirely new building for a coach house, resulting in more farmland being developed, not less.
All coach houses require a "Notice of Intent" (NOI) from the ALC. This process can take anywhere from two to six months, or longer. The maximum size coach house permitted, in addition to your home, is 90 square meters, or 186 square meters (2,002 square feet) if on land which is greater than 40 ha, and must be above a garage which is the exact same size as the suite above. The floor area is taken to the interior face of exterior walls and exterior of posts supporting a roof. The garage below must be used for the principal dwelling and must not be used by the secondary suite.
There cannot be any access from the garage to the secondary suite. The garage must have overhead doors to indicate it will be used for vehicle parking only.
Exemptions:
In British Columbia, the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) exception for land under 2 acres applies to parcels that were legally less than 2 acres and existed on separate Certificates of Title on December 21, 1972. If you would like help determining if your property is exempt from the ALR requirements, feel free to reach out to us via the Contact page.
Local Jurisdiction requirements for homes on ALR:
In addition to the ALC's regulations, many of the local jurisdictions have additional requirements for homes on Agricultural land.
Some municipalities have "Farm Home Plates" which restrict the location of any residential uses to a specific area on the property; for example, in Chilliwack, BC the maximum area permitted for all residential uses is 4000 square meters and must be located at the front of the property. The 4000 square meter farm home plate cannot be more than 80 meters from the front property line and the max distance the rear of the home can be from the front property line is 70 meters.
In addition to the main dwelling you may also permit a coach house located within the farm home plate, in which case the farm home plate can increase by 1000 square meters. Alternatively you can place the coach house at another location of the property such as the rear property line and the farm home plate around the coach house cannot be larger than 1000 square meters.
References:
Houses in the ALR
Notice of Intent Processes
If your new home meets all the requirements of the ALC, building your home should go quite smoothly but if you veer away, in any way, from the regulations outlined in the ALC Act you may be in for a long battle. At the time of this post some of the regulations are:
In addition to the ALC's regulations, many of the local jurisdictions have additional requirements for homes on Agricultural land.
Some municipalities have "Farm Home Plates" which restrict the location of any residential uses to a specific area on the property; for example, in Chilliwack, BC the maximum area permitted for all residential uses is 4000 square meters and must be located at the front of the property. The 4000 square meter farm home plate cannot be more than 80 meters from the front property line and the max distance the rear of the home can be from the front property line is 70 meters.
In addition to the main dwelling you may also permit a coach house located within the farm home plate, in which case the farm home plate can increase by 1000 square meters. Alternatively you can place the coach house at another location of the property such as the rear property line and the farm home plate around the coach house cannot be larger than 1000 square meters.
References:
Houses in the ALR
Notice of Intent Processes