ALC rejects Teacup appeal

An appeal by the District of Kent regarding the exclusion of 43 acres from the Agricultural Land Reserve for residential development has been rejected.

A four-page decision issued June 10 by the Agricultural Land Commission states that the district’s request did not meet the criteria for triggering a reconsideration, and that, “in any event, is of the view that there should not be a reconsideration of the 2021 decision.”

Kent applied to the ALC In 2020 seeking the exclusion of the so-called Teacup properties, parcels designated for future residential development in the district’s official community plan in 2001. However, the properties are within the ALR and the ALC told the district in 2005 “that any plans to develop this area for non-farm uses would be inconsistent with the ALC Act.” The commission reiterated this position in 2014, and rejected the most recent exclusion bid in June 2021.

But the district was not content. It filed a reconsideration request February 3 alleging that the ALC decision, “was based in error and in some parts, false” – grounds set forth in the ALC Act for reconsidering a decision.

The district also argued that a reconsideration would allows the ALC to see the exclusion application as offering a “’win-win’ outcome” that would both enlarge the ALR while providing much-needed housing.

The ALC countered that various elements the district claimed were false were in fact the ALC’s decisions based on the evidence before it, not the evidence itself. Therefore, a reconsideration wasn’t required.

Moreover, the district provided no new evidence to support its exclusion application, also nixing any hope for a reconsideration.

“No additional reconsideration requests can be considered by the Commission,” the ALC added.