Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee regular meeting, July 7, 2022

[0:00:00] Trustee Luckham (probable): Thank you for your email earlier.

[0:00:04] Voice 4: You're very welcome.

[0:00:38] Trustee Luckham (probable): Well, it is four o'clock, so I would like to start, if that's all right with everybody.

[0:00:46] Trustee Luckham (probable): We've got a couple more people coming in here.

[0:00:50] Trustee Luckham (probable): Really grateful that you've all taken time out of what no doubt is a busy summer, beginning of summer.

[0:00:56] Trustee Luckham (probable): It's certainly been damp.

[0:00:58] Trustee Luckham (probable): I understand the green leafy plants are doing great and the peas and other things are not doing so great.

[0:01:03] Trustee Luckham (probable): because I guess you need heat eventually,

[0:01:06] Trustee Luckham (probable): and hopefully that's coming in the next month or so.

[0:01:09] Trustee Luckham (probable): But anyway, Peter Lockham, we're all familiar with each other, I think,

[0:01:13] Trustee Luckham (probable): elected on Thetis Island, which is in Lax in the Penelope Territory.

[0:01:18] Trustee Luckham (probable): I'm here as your chair of your Salt Spring Island LTC,

[0:01:21] Trustee Luckham (probable): really an honor and privilege for me to be able to be here,

[0:01:25] Trustee Luckham (probable): work with you, hear your stories, and compare notes, so to speak.

[0:01:29] Trustee Luckham (probable): we have an agenda before us and i'll just of course you're familiar with trustee patrick

[0:01:35] Trustee Luckham (probable): locally elected peter grove also locally elected we've got jordy gordon with us today and louisa

[0:01:42] Trustee Luckham (probable): garbo not sure if louisa you've been on one of these meetings before or not louisa is our acting

[0:01:49] Trustee Luckham (probable): regional planning manager at the moment and thank you louisa for joining us today um quite honestly

[0:01:55] Trustee Luckham (probable): this is one of the more enjoyable meetings because we get to find out what's happening

[0:01:58] Trustee Luckham (probable): in farming and what concerns them. And hopefully we can collaborate together to come up with

[0:02:05] Trustee Luckham (probable): solutions to problems or maybe celebrate the good things. And there are a few good things to

[0:02:10] Trustee Luckham (probable): celebrate. So perhaps if you wish members of the Ag Alliance, you probably all know each other,

[0:02:20] Trustee Luckham (probable): but if you want to shout out your names, that'd be fine by me too. Certainly recognize all of you.

[0:02:25] Trustee Luckham (probable): i'm a little bradley i'm not sure that i recall meeting you before you've got a fine guitar

[0:02:31] Trustee Luckham (probable): hanging on the wall thank

[0:02:32] Voice 7: you yeah i'm uh i'm a new uh director at the egg alliance so

[0:02:37] Voice 7: nice to see you all

[0:02:38] Trustee Luckham (probable): okay great and uh reed bradley are you also a new on board here i

[0:02:44] Trustee Luckham (probable): missed you before yeah

[0:02:46] Voice 12: i know reed bailey i am a land use planner with the ministry of agriculture

[0:02:49] Voice 12: culture and food oh

[0:02:50] Trustee Luckham (probable): oh great yeah and there we have one more person coming in marguerite lee

[0:02:58] Trustee Luckham (probable): hello marguerite okay so um we do have an agenda before us and um nothing here except uh generally

[0:03:08] Trustee Luckham (probable): the open discussion at the end but of course we've got proposed bylaw number five to six farm

[0:03:12] Trustee Luckham (probable): worker housing um which is uh uh work as a result of alr uh amendments and uh conversations in the

[0:03:20] Trustee Luckham (probable): the community and conversations from yourself and I think from our perspective we're definitely

[0:03:26] Trustee Luckham (probable): looking for some feedback on this whether or not we should be pursuing it or not we're certainly

[0:03:31] Trustee Luckham (probable): ready to pursue it there's still some work to be done but we want to know specifically what the

[0:03:39] Trustee Luckham (probable): interest is from the farming community on this particular topic so is there anything else anybody

[0:03:45] Trustee Luckham (probable): anybody a specific topic to talk about or should we just leave it open discussion I did

[0:03:50] Voice 1: oh we

[0:03:54] Trustee Luckham (probable): can't hear you Laura

[0:03:55] Voice 4: try that again nope what a nuisance

[0:04:09] Trustee Luckham (probable): huh so well I'll let you try and figure that out and just shout if you get it figured out

[0:04:15] Trustee Luckham (probable): and Macy yes

[0:04:17] Voice 1: I did send a letter just earlier this afternoon about the composting regulations

[0:04:21] Voice 1: and that might be what Trustee Patrick wants to mention.

[0:04:25] Trustee Luckham (probable): Oh, got a thumbs up, awesome.

[0:04:27] Voice 1: You should have got it in your email box

[0:04:29] Voice 1: if you managed to have time to open your email.

[0:04:33] Voice 1: I

[0:04:33] Trustee Luckham (probable): did see it on executive committee meeting all morning

[0:04:37] Trustee Luckham (probable): and then traveling to New England

[0:04:38] Trustee Luckham (probable): for a meeting.

[0:04:39] Voice 1: I'm hoping we can discuss that

[0:04:41] Voice 1: maybe in the open discussion time.

[0:04:43] Voice 1: We have submitted it formally,

[0:04:45] Voice 1: but it would be good to have a little chat about that

[0:04:47] Voice 1: if we could, thank you.

[0:04:49] Trustee Luckham (probable): Yeah, it would.

[0:04:49] Trustee Luckham (probable): it's a concern throughout the trust area. So let's definitely have that conversation. So

[0:04:54] Trustee Luckham (probable): anything else specific? Okay. So can we start off with bylaw number 526? Are you all familiar with

[0:05:01] Trustee Luckham (probable): it? Because I could ask Geordie Gordon, Geordie, to maybe just introduce it from an objective

[0:05:11] Trustee Luckham (probable): perspective about what the bylaw is about. And then that would maybe frame the conversation for

[0:05:16] Trustee Luckham (probable): everybody and then we could discuss it i see a few nods so jordy can you take us through bylaw 526

[0:05:23] Voice 11: i i absolutely absolutely can um thank you chair luck i'm i'm not sure if it's relevant to share

[0:05:30] Voice 11: my screen or not um maybe i'll bring

[0:05:32] Voice 1: it up just for

[0:05:33] Voice 11: conversation um yeah so just i guess there's

[0:05:39] Voice 11: a bit of a status update for 526 which is the implementation of the residential flexibility

[0:05:45] Voice 11: that the ALC granted at the end of last year.

[0:05:48] Voice 11: The implementing by-law for the LTC would be by-law 526,

[0:05:53] Voice 11: which will be received again by the Local Trust Committee

[0:05:55] Voice 11: at their meeting next week, July 12th.

[0:06:01] Voice 11: And the recommendation there is going to be

[0:06:04] Voice 11: to adopt some amendments to the by-law

[0:06:08] Voice 11: after it was given first reading.

[0:06:10] Voice 11: So the main change there is going to be

[0:06:13] Voice 11: the removal of the requirement for a covenant.

[0:06:19] Voice 11: You can see the strikethrough here striking out.

[0:06:24] Voice 11: It was previously written where the owner grants to the Salt Spring Island

[0:06:28] Voice 11: Local Trust Committee a covenant under the Land Title Act restricting the use

[0:06:31] Voice 11: of the dwelling unit to a farm across the dwelling unit.

[0:06:35] Voice 11: So this is just staff recommendation based on the feedback that we've received

[0:06:38] Voice 11: as a result of the first draft of the bylaw,

[0:06:40] Voice 11: which was sort of a mixed response to this covenant it ultimately was seen as a bit perhaps

[0:06:48] Voice 11: was going to be counterproductive to achieving the goal of additional farm worker housing so

[0:06:56] Voice 11: that's recommended change this bylaw also brings into better compliance the land use bylaw with

[0:07:04] Voice 11: with some ALC regulation changes particularly around number of campsites and a few other

[0:07:11] Voice 11: Sort of, I would say, administrative cleanup aspects of it.

[0:07:16] Voice 11: And then the other thing that it does is, and this is outside of the ALC permissions, but it does allow for some subdivision potential for larger farms that are outside of the ALR to utilize that potential to have additional dwellings.

[0:07:33] Voice 11: And that's subject to a certain number of conditions, which are listed here.

[0:07:37] Voice 11: I'm happy to go into more detail if people are curious about that one.

[0:07:41] Voice 11: but yeah so that's where that's where we're at with this bylaw and I'll just go back up here

[0:07:48] Voice 11: for one second these are the recommendations that the LTC will be receiving at the meeting next week

[0:07:56] Voice 11: to give second reading to the bylaw as amended and then to schedule public information session

[0:08:05] Voice 11: of public hearing to sort of continue to advance this bylaw. I'm happy to go into number five

[0:08:14] Voice 11: there. It's sort of of no particular relevance to this conversation. It was just something that we

[0:08:19] Voice 11: received in response to a referral of the bylaw to, in this case, the Allen's Trust Conservancy.

[0:08:27] Voice 11: I think that sort of gives you a bit of an overview of where things are at, but I'm happy

[0:08:32] Voice 11: to take any questions of clarification or anything else on that

[0:08:36] Trustee Luckham (probable): okay um why don't we go back to the

[0:08:39] Trustee Luckham (probable): full screen perfect anybody uh questions on that bylaw and generally whether or not you think it's

[0:08:46] Trustee Luckham (probable): a good idea or not any concerns it might you might have no oh there we go marguerite lee

[0:08:54] Trustee Luckham (probable): go ahead marguerite um

[0:08:57] Voice 2: could you clarify please the additional housing um uh it explains uh family

[0:09:04] Voice 2: And there was terminology about immediate family, which doesn't really apply. Family is family. Is it a relative? How is that clarified? And does it allow for farm workers? Does it allow for agritourism?

[0:09:22] Voice 2: In other words, if you have a farm, whether it's in ALR or in just agricultural use on other zone property, can you have a relative in that additional housing?

[0:09:35] Voice 2: Can you have a worker in the additional housing?

[0:09:38] Voice 2: Or can you use it for agritourism, which may be a workshop?

[0:09:44] Voice 2: So you'd have people come, they'd stay, they'd work on the farm.

[0:09:48] Voice 2: They're learning how to seed or do things, but they are not farm workers as such.

[0:09:54] Voice 2: It's part of agritourism.

[0:09:55] Voice 2: So those are three areas that the Farmers Institute is concerned about, and hopefully it's being included.

[0:10:03] Voice 2: Could you clarify, please?

[0:10:07] Voice 11: Sure. I apologize. I wasn't taking notes there.

[0:10:09] Voice 11: I might have to ask you to repeat the three questions there.

[0:10:13] Voice 11: I think one was about family members.

[0:10:15] Voice 11: Yes,

[0:10:16] Voice 2: because I think it says immediate family, which would be

[0:10:22] Voice 2: very restrictive, and it shouldn't be, because you could have a family who has decided to join or wishes to remain, farm worker, and also agritourism.

[0:10:36] Voice 2: Those are the three uses.

[0:10:38] Voice 2: is um

[0:10:39] Voice 11: so okay so the point taken about i'm hearing immediate family yes i think that's

[0:10:45] Voice 11: a somewhat ambiguous term um i know it is defined in various pieces of legislation

[0:10:51] Voice 11: um as to what constitutes a family member but i i think that's a valid uh concern uh restricting it

[0:11:00] Voice 11: um the second agritourism i might look to to read here if he wants to weigh in on the

[0:11:07] Voice 11: agritourism restriction, but my understanding is the ALC does not, it leaves it to local

[0:11:17] Voice 11: government to restrict the agritourism accommodation units up to a maximum of 10.

[0:11:23] Voice 11: So theoretically, if you're operating an agritourism operation, which is one of the

[0:11:30] Voice 11: prescribed activities under the ALC regs, that you could use it for agritourism accommodation.

[0:11:37] Voice 11: i'm not sure if that's answers your question or for you if you have anything to add to that

[0:11:41] Voice 12: yeah i was the only thing i'll say is local governments have full control over uh regulating

[0:11:47] Voice 12: and prohibiting all types of agritourism accommodation so unlike an agritourism

[0:11:52] Voice 12: operation that's permitted in the alrs protected local governments cannot cannot prohibit that but

[0:11:58] Voice 12: with the accommodation piece full control for local governments uh they can they can ban it

[0:12:04] Voice 12: completely if they want or they can allow it all the way up until what's allowed in the alr

[0:12:09] Voice 12: regulation so it's really up to island's trust and

[0:12:18] Voice 11: then uh i sorry was that the last piece of

[0:12:21] Voice 11: that question on that particular one or um

[0:12:24] Voice 2: well the limiting is is um alr the agriculture land

[0:12:31] Voice 2: reserve versus other areas that are being farmed there is in agriculture but they're not in alr

[0:12:38] Voice 2: And all these restrictions or bylaws should apply to both areas of farming, not just farming in the ALR.

[0:12:50] Voice 11: Yeah, and I think that was something we've consistently heard from the farming community is more permissions for farms outside of the ALR.

[0:12:58] Voice 11: This bylaw was intended primarily to implement the additional permissions provided by the ALC.

[0:13:04] Voice 11: And generally speaking, the boundaries of A1, A2 zone land is coterminous with the ALC on the island, so it's sort of applicable mostly just to those properties.

[0:13:15] Voice 11: The intent was with Section 317 was to provide some additional flexibility if there's sufficient land area that you could utilize some of that, as opposed to going through a subdivision, you could utilize some of that potential density for additional housing.

[0:13:35] Voice 11: But as it stands, there is a bit of a separation between, from the bylaw perspective, between farmland A1, A2, and then farming that occurs on rural properties, which obviously aren't subject to ALC regulations around agritourism and accommodation to that effect, would be subject to accommodation under home-based businesses like a bed and breakfast or something to that effect.

[0:14:06] Voice 11: Okay.

[0:14:11] Trustee Luckham (probable): Any other questions? Hopefully that answered the question you had there. Oops.

[0:14:17] Trustee Luckham (probable): I'd

[0:14:18] Voice 1: like to ask a question, if I may.

[0:14:20] Voice 1: Please, yeah.

[0:14:21] Voice 1: I

[0:14:22] Voice 11: see Brian's hand up as well, just for you.

[0:14:25] Voice 11: I got that.

[0:14:26] Voice 11: Okay.

[0:14:27] Trustee Luckham (probable): So whoever was first. Brian, you got your hand up.

[0:14:31] Voice 1: I didn't notice in the revised text whether anything had been done about that

[0:14:38] Voice 1: that there was some text, an information piece

[0:14:41] Voice 1: about referencing the ALR use regulation,

[0:14:47] Voice 1: and it seemed to be more restrictive

[0:14:50] Voice 1: than what is in the ALR use regulation.

[0:14:53] Voice 1: So we kind of wanted that text tweaked

[0:14:56] Voice 1: so there wasn't any ambiguity about that,

[0:14:59] Voice 1: and it was clear that there's a 50%

[0:15:04] Voice 1: or that something was said about the 50%,

[0:15:09] Voice 1: and it could be from anywhere other than that farm or from other farms,

[0:15:14] Voice 1: not necessarily one that the owner had an association with

[0:15:18] Voice 1: because it's not always the owner that's the farmer.

[0:15:23] Voice 1: I mean, it seems to be adding unnecessary layers of restriction

[0:15:28] Voice 1: that aren't necessary to bring it in line with the ALL regulation.

[0:15:36] Voice 1: So it's just some

[0:15:36] Voice 1: tweaks of the English.

[0:15:38] Voice 11: I'm just going to bring up the, um, by log in here, just, just so we're all on the same page here. Is this the information note that you're referring to here? This, uh, by definition, agriculture includes processing storage.

[0:15:54] Voice 1: So, we were suggesting that you actually mentioned that 50%, which is what the ALR regulations say, but it's by an association which the owner of the agricultural land belongs.

[0:16:10] Voice 1: Well, can't we just say the farmer? I mean, the owner and the farmer might not be the same person.

[0:16:18] Voice 1: So the farmer may not necessarily have anything to do with what arrangement the farmer makes with their neighboring farmer to have the same farm stand, for example.

[0:16:28] Voice 1: could

[0:16:35] Voice 10: i could i maybe help clarify this yeah

[0:16:39] Voice 5: bylaw

[0:16:40] Voice 10: in its current form includes as permitted

[0:16:44] Voice 10: accessory uses the sale of farm products and it permits the sale of farm products from other farms

[0:16:54] Voice 10: not just the farm on which the sale is taking place additionally it permits the processing

[0:17:02] Voice 10: of farm products, the new draft, or I guess it's not a draft, the bylaw that's passed first reading

[0:17:10] Voice 10: removes those permissions. And all that's really left is that information note. It no longer

[0:17:18] Voice 10: explicitly permits the sale of farm products, nor the processing. So that if a farmer owns an

[0:17:30] Voice 10: apple press and their neighboring farmer wants to use their apple press it actually becomes

[0:17:40] Voice 10: something that the trust would not permit if this bylaw is passed whereas the current bylaw

[0:17:47] Voice 10: permits that and I guess I just have to wonder if did the trust receive the letter from the

[0:17:54] Voice 10: the islands trust on april 11th because it responded to specific points including these

[0:18:01] Voice 10: and we haven't heard anything back from the trust about it

[0:18:07] Voice 11: um i did okay yeah i think

[0:18:11] Voice 11: from the agricultural alliance or yeah

[0:18:14] Voice 5: um

[0:18:17] Voice 11: we did receive those um i'm obviously hearing the

[0:18:23] Voice 11: concerned that this is somehow limiting of farms' ability to collaborate with other farms. It's not

[0:18:30] Voice 11: the intention of the bylaw. So certainly we'll be open to revising that information note in such a

[0:18:37] Voice 11: way that you find it to be appropriate. And if it's just to include that wording that was in

[0:18:43] Voice 11: the letter, then I'm happy to make that recommendation as well. I think the intent

[0:18:49] Voice 11: here was to to hopefully just clarify as opposed to being overly um cumbersome and saying if this

[0:18:56] Voice 11: and then that it's just sort of as long as you're consistent with the alc use regulation then you're

[0:19:02] Voice 11: you're you're okay um but if if this doesn't achieve that outcome then i'm certainly happy to

[0:19:07] Voice 11: to recommend changes to it

[0:19:09] Voice 12: i mean i i'm sorry brian i was gonna say i can say too i've reviewed

[0:19:14] Voice 12: a lot of bylaws and one common way to kind of define agriculture a part of it at least is just

[0:19:21] Voice 12: to say all uh farm uses under section two of the alr use regulation are permitted and that includes

[0:19:29] Voice 12: things like you know the the laundry list of of you know processing um horse facilities uh whatever

[0:19:38] Voice 12: is in the land development works farm progress agritourism etc etc and that kind of covers all

[0:19:43] Voice 12: of the the permissions there i mean you kind of have it already in there saying these uses must

[0:19:48] Voice 12: be consistent with the alr use reg um i guess it could be more pointed but um that is one strategy

[0:19:55] Voice 12: if you want to kind of make sure you're covering all bases without specifically listing everything

[0:20:00] Voice 12: right because that does get cumbersome yeah

[0:20:04] Voice 10: the the higher level concern and we've already touched

[0:20:09] Voice 10: touched on this a little bit is the fact that what what the the trust is doing is essentially it's

[0:20:17] Voice 10: um uh making changes to in reaction to uh changes that the province has made and so there's no uh

[0:20:29] Voice 10: proactive steps being taken by the trust to make agriculture more sustainable on Salisbury.

[0:20:41] Voice 10: And so as a result, the non-ALR farms that are not in A1 or A2 are being completely excluded

[0:20:52] Voice 10: from all of this, and that is problematic

[0:20:58] Voice 10: because that's half of the farmland on Salt Spring Island.

[0:21:03] Voice 10: And so when it comes to one,

[0:21:05] Voice 10: the opportunity to add the second housing unit,

[0:21:12] Voice 10: that in the current form of the bylaw

[0:21:17] Voice 10: only applies in A1 and A2.

[0:21:20] Voice 10: And so the other half of farms, even with the farm status, which is required in the wording that's here, are not eligible to add the second housing unit, and they further can face other restrictions.

[0:21:40] Voice 10: So rather than the trust just saying, well, if you're in the ALR, okay, you can do what the ALC says you can do, which the trust has to do, it would be highly preferable for the trust to look at the uses that are appropriate within agriculture

[0:22:03] Voice 10: agriculture and change the zoning in all the zones where agriculture is a permitted

[0:22:13] Voice 10: activity to be able to accommodate that. The more the trust says, well, you can do what the

[0:22:22] Voice 10: agricultural land reserve regulation says, and then is silent beyond that, while that's convenient

[0:22:28] Voice 10: and tidy in dealing with A1 and A2. It's not helpful at all in dealing with the half of the

[0:22:34] Voice 10: farms that are not in A1 or A2. So it would be highly preferable, and this is what we requested

[0:22:43] Voice 10: in the letter on April 11th, to extend the same provisions to active farmed properties in other

[0:22:53] Voice 10: other zones, not just in A1 and A2.

[0:22:57] Voice 10: That's what we requested in April.

[0:22:59] Voice 10: And we haven't heard anything,

[0:23:00] Voice 10: any response at all from anybody to that.

[0:23:04] Voice 10: And I understand the attempt here is more constrained

[0:23:08] Voice 10: and focusing on complying with the changes

[0:23:13] Voice 10: to the ALC regulations.

[0:23:16] Voice 10: But the issue here on Salt Spring isn't about

[0:23:20] Voice 10: what the province has done and the need of the trust.

[0:23:23] Voice 10: to come into compliance, essentially, with what the province is permitting.

[0:23:28] Voice 10: It's about working to make agriculture sustainable on Salt Spring.

[0:23:37] Trustee Luckham (probable): Thank you, Brian.

[0:23:39] Trustee Luckham (probable): I think, you know, you're right.

[0:23:40] Trustee Luckham (probable): The focus on this is on the A1 and A2.

[0:23:43] Trustee Luckham (probable): And I hear completely what you're saying about wanting to not exclude the other 50% of the farms.

[0:23:51] Trustee Luckham (probable): So maybe a question for Jordy Gordon, Planner Gordon, is where is it that we would accommodate that, given that if the LTC wanted to pursue that, and I know certainly there's input in supporting sustainable farming.

[0:24:07] Trustee Luckham (probable): Sure.

[0:24:10] Voice 11: Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, in listening to Brian raise those points,

[0:24:15] Voice 11: I think, you know, more and more realize that that's really a project on its own to undertake

[0:24:21] Voice 11: those changes to engage with the farming community and understand those needs.

[0:24:26] Voice 11: This bylaw was really intended as sort of just a side of the desk update to the ALC regulation

[0:24:34] Voice 11: changes. So, I can understand that it doesn't achieve the objectives that Brian's mentioned

[0:24:39] Voice 11: here because that was not the intent of the bylaw and i think if the ltc was wanting to undertake

[0:24:45] Voice 11: those um you know to achieve those outcomes that it would have to be a well-defined project on its

[0:24:51] Voice 11: own right right

[0:24:52] Trustee Luckham (probable): okay thank you and macy just

[0:24:55] Voice 1: like to challenge that slightly if i may because you

[0:24:58] Voice 1: have actually addressed that in 2.4 where you are talking about land agricultural land where it's a

[0:25:05] Voice 1: of principal use not in an agricultural zone so you've already got it to do with the housing

[0:25:11] Voice 1: I mean it doesn't seem to me it's much of a stretch to to to deal anywhere you're dealing

[0:25:19] Voice 1: with this in this text to include other other zones I mean we're talking about it in the context

[0:25:25] Voice 1: of this housing the changes to the housing right and what's happening on farms but if you're saying

[0:25:33] Voice 1: something about a farm why not i mean we're just going to have the same conversations again when

[0:25:41] Voice 1: you do eventually bring it up to change one sentence somewhere else it seems like a make

[0:25:45] Voice 1: work project unnecessarily to me but that's my opinion so sorry um

[0:25:52] Trustee Luckham (probable): yeah fair fair enough i there

[0:25:55] Trustee Luckham (probable): is some rationale behind it because of course there's no restriction on somebody conducting

[0:26:04] Trustee Luckham (probable): I think that if I'm not mistaken, anyway, that that we would want to consider that before advancing something.

[0:26:13] Trustee Luckham (probable): Do any of the trustee other trustees have anything?

[0:26:15] Trustee Luckham (probable): Oh, I see somebody says here trustee Patrick would like to hear from Reed Bailey on this request.

[0:26:23] Trustee Luckham (probable): Read.

[0:26:25] Voice 12: Well, I mean it's I it's hard to speak to you know the in the because I'm not in the nitty gritty of your your guys's funding processes, and what that entails, and how much money you have.

[0:26:35] Voice 12: work that is i mean i can see and point of it seems like it might just be a quick little fix

[0:26:40] Voice 12: but i mean i'm like with gordy on that where sometimes you know these quick fixes aren't so

[0:26:45] Voice 12: quick and they do take a lot longer than a simple swipe of the pen so i don't really want to comment

[0:26:52] Voice 12: on something i'm not entrenched in i don't really know how the you know behind the scenes working

[0:26:57] Voice 12: goes there so yeah

[0:26:59] Trustee Luckham (probable): understood yeah peter grove somebody

[0:27:03] Voice 3: is cutting out i don't know if it's me

[0:27:05] Voice 3: or you but anyway so maybe just in and out in any event I think we need to address it as an LTC and

[0:27:11] Voice 3: I think staff should present this to us with suggestions as to what we might do to

[0:27:17] Voice 3: to adjust bylaw because it makes sense we do want to involve include everyone and not just the ALC

[0:27:26] Voice 3: lands ALR lands right

[0:27:30] Trustee Luckham (probable): well certainly we could you know on our projects let's write ask for options

[0:27:36] Trustee Luckham (probable): on that i guess at this moment we've advanced this five to six which has a specific outcome

[0:27:43] Trustee Luckham (probable): doesn't close the door on other um activities um but certainly as ann has just said there

[0:27:51] Trustee Luckham (probable): um it would open up a new book and um we'd have to be careful about that um from lots of

[0:27:59] Trustee Luckham (probable): perspectives uh planet gordon do you have any further reflections on that or and then ken

[0:28:05] Trustee Luckham (probable): And Brian, I'll see your hand up.

[0:28:08] Voice 11: The only thing that I would potentially say is I think

[0:28:11] Trustee Luckham (probable): that...

[0:28:13] Voice 11: Sorry, go ahead, Ken.

[0:28:15] Trustee Luckham (probable): Who is that?

[0:28:20] Voice 9: Okay.

[0:28:21] Voice 9: I just have a regard to the farmland in the non-ALR.

[0:28:28] Voice 9: My Eperon Road farm is 105 acres.

[0:28:31] Voice 9: Two acres of it are in the ALR,

[0:28:33] Voice 9: but the property has been farmed continuously,

[0:28:36] Voice 9: as far as I know, for over 100 years.

[0:28:40] Voice 9: so i think the housing issue should apply those terms um yeah

[0:28:54] Trustee Luckham (probable): your connection isn't great there

[0:28:58] Trustee Luckham (probable): ken but i think we got that um anything else okay oh i see conrad pylon's hand up yeah

[0:29:07] Voice 13: i just want

[0:29:08] Voice 13: to add that the the recommendation to provide standard provisions for farm worker housing

[0:29:13] Voice 13: housing on all zones where farming occurs is was a priority in the area farm plan so

[0:29:22] Voice 13: that kind of consistency that Brian has addressed and that that Ken's addressing is is reflected in

[0:29:28] Voice 13: the community consultation that occurred the last review of the area farm plan.

[0:29:37] Voice 4: Okay so

[0:29:45] Trustee Luckham (probable): it sounds

[0:29:47] Trustee Luckham (probable): It sounds like there's more work necessary to consider how we might include some of these elements of Badaw 526 on other farmland.

[0:30:00] Trustee Luckham (probable): and so i think the ltc can take that into consideration at this point and decide what

[0:30:05] Trustee Luckham (probable): it wants to do either expanding this project or creating a new project trustees any thoughts

[0:30:13] Trustee Luckham (probable): and i realize it's difficult for you to converse there trustee patrick

[0:30:19] Trustee Luckham (probable): so should we move on from this one and move into a general conversation jordy gordon over to you

[0:30:26] Trustee Luckham (probable): I

[0:30:27] Voice 11: will also just make the comment that bylaw 530, which is accessory dwelling units on an expanded number of properties across the island, is also proceeding to the LTC at the meeting next week.

[0:30:42] Voice 11: And whether or not that achieves the outcomes that the farming community is looking for outside of the ALR, it might address those concerns.

[0:30:51] Voice 11: It might not.

[0:30:51] Voice 11: But it is also something that's being considered for additional dwelling.

[0:30:56] Trustee Luckham (probable): Right.

[0:30:56] Trustee Luckham (probable): Not specifically

[0:30:58] Voice 11: for farm workers, but it sort of does have that island-wide rural zone applicability to it as well.

[0:31:07] Voice 11: It's something to consider in this discussion.

[0:31:10] Trustee Luckham (probable): It could be utilized for farm worker housing, is what you're saying.

[0:31:14] Voice 11: Yeah, I mean, there would be no restriction if you have a farm on a rural property and you could build a second accessory dwelling unit to house whomever it might be.

[0:31:25] Trustee Luckham (probable): Great. Okay.

[0:31:27] Trustee Luckham (probable): Thank you for that.

[0:31:30] Trustee Luckham (probable): Brian Webster, back to you.

[0:31:33] Voice 10: Yeah, thank you.

[0:31:34] Voice 10: Just before we move on from this,

[0:31:38] Voice 10: from an Agricultural Alliance perspective,

[0:31:40] Voice 10: I just need to say in regard to that,

[0:31:43] Voice 10: that we haven't reviewed the other by-law

[0:31:47] Voice 10: because we haven't been asked to.

[0:31:48] Voice 10: And so it's a little disappointing

[0:31:51] Voice 10: that nearly three months ago,

[0:31:53] Voice 10: we wrote to you folks asking for these changes.

[0:31:57] Voice 10: And now we're being told,

[0:31:58] Voice 10: although this would have to be something new

[0:32:00] Voice 10: and maybe another bylaw would cover it,

[0:32:01] Voice 10: but we haven't had any opportunity

[0:32:03] Voice 10: to look at that and comment on it.

[0:32:06] Voice 10: Don't want to be difficult

[0:32:07] Voice 10: and definitely don't want to delay

[0:32:10] Voice 10: good things moving forward,

[0:32:12] Voice 10: but it's just a bit concerning

[0:32:14] Voice 10: that we were clear and direct back in April

[0:32:20] Voice 10: around the time when we last had one of these meetings.

[0:32:24] Voice 10: And so to hear now,

[0:32:27] Voice 10: Now, that would be something new as if we were spraying it on you guys is a bit weird.

[0:32:33] Voice 10: Anyway, a very specific point.

[0:32:36] Voice 10: One, to Marguerite's point about immediate family, that is an important point

[0:32:43] Voice 10: because the mentorship that we've talked about, that a second housing unit could often offer opportunities

[0:32:52] Voice 10: for farm families to make a transition.

[0:32:55] Voice 10: It could often be an aunt or an uncle or a grandparent who would be moving into the second house or vice versa, staying in the other house.

[0:33:06] Voice 10: So definitely being clear on what we mean by immediate family and not being overly restrictive to mother, father, sister, brother kind of thing is really important.

[0:33:16] Voice 10: And the one other point that we covered in that letter in April that might just be a matter of just getting clarification.

[0:33:24] Voice 10: Maybe Jordi knows the answer. And that is, is there anything to prevent either the second dwelling unit or a secondary suite from being located in a farm accessory building, for example, a storage building, a processing building, etc.?

[0:33:42] Voice 10: Because particularly from the perspective of trying to protect agricultural land and creating as few structures as we can while meeting the needs, it's highly desirable to have the opportunity, whether it's a housing unit or a second house or a secondary suite,

[0:34:06] Voice 10: tweak for it to have the flexibility to locate it in an accessory building that's being used

[0:34:13] Voice 10: for something else would be really important. Maybe Jordi could let us know whether there's

[0:34:24] Voice 10: any problem with that or whether this needs to be tweaked to make it clear that that would be

[0:34:30] Voice 10: permissible.

[0:34:32] Voice 11: Yeah, thanks, Brian. I think it would need to be tweaked. And I don't know if

[0:34:35] Voice 11: re can correct me here i believe that that ability to construct a dwelling above a barn

[0:34:40] Voice 11: has been removed by the alc bylaw 512 which was the um full-time rental cottages bylaw was intended

[0:34:47] Voice 11: to make that amendment to be consistent with the alc and then it was removed as a inability from

[0:34:54] Voice 11: the alc so i don't believe that that's currently a permission but i could be wrong it actually

[0:34:59] Voice 12: is a permission again it

[0:35:01] Voice 11: is okay yeah

[0:35:02] Voice 12: it's it wasn't without controversy there's it's i i

[0:35:07] Voice 12: personally wasn't a fan it's riddled with problems but anyhow it is it is allowed and just one thing

[0:35:12] Voice 12: on the secondary suite just for clarification secondary suites have to be located in a

[0:35:16] Voice 12: principal residence a secondary suite couldn't be located in a secondary or above a barn that's

[0:35:22] Voice 12: something completely different so there's a unique definition for secondary suite

[0:35:27] Voice 10: okay so does this

[0:35:30] Voice 10: this bylaw need to be tweaked for the second housing unit to be located in the same building.

[0:35:39] Voice 10: I mean, you know, it doesn't have to be a barn, of course.

[0:35:42] Voice 10: You know, it can be a storage building, a processing building, it can be any of many.

[0:35:48] Voice 10: And it would be both cost effective and it would alienate far less land if the two are combined

[0:35:58] Voice 4: in the same buildings.

[0:35:59] Voice 4: I think that the bylaw could

[0:36:05] Voice 11: be more explicit to allow that, yes. If it is, in fact, the permission from the ALC, then I think that point is well taken, that it's more effective use of existing structures and land. I am perhaps cautious of the issues associated with it as it relates to building code, but that's perhaps not an issue for the trust.

[0:36:30] Voice 11: Sure.

[0:36:31] Voice 10: I mean, we have a building on our property, which you would know about, Jordi, where we have industrial and commercial in the same building where we make cider and we sell cider. And so from a building code perspective, you can have within the same structure areas that have different requirements and you simply have to adhere to them.

[0:37:00] Voice 11: Absolutely. And I think I don't see an issue in allowing that and letting individual owners,

[0:37:06] Voice 11: if they want to undertake those retrofits necessary to construct the dwelling,

[0:37:10] Voice 11: and whether or not they're so burdensome as to not be worth it, is

[0:37:14] Voice 11: I guess up to each individual landowner.

[0:37:16] Trustee Luckham (probable): Okay. That would be good.

[0:37:20] Trustee Luckham (probable): Thank you, Brian.

[0:37:23] Voice 12: Sorry, I just looked for clarification too that accommodation above a building,

[0:37:27] Voice 12: it has to be an existing building so it can't be a new build can't build a bar and then add

[0:37:34] Voice 12: something on top it has to be an existing building so that's one provision so

[0:37:40] Voice 10: just a minute we're

[0:37:40] Voice 10: allowed to build an accessory building and we're allowed we will be allowed to build a second house

[0:37:49] Voice 10: but we have to take up more land to create two separate structures rather yeah

[0:37:55] Voice 12: so part of the

[0:37:57] Voice 12: reason was is people were abusing this really badly they were building really really large

[0:38:02] Voice 12: barns that weren't really being used as barns and then building huge suites above them so that was

[0:38:09] Voice 12: a problem that we were seeing but

[0:38:12] Voice 10: but the the new ALC regulations set out very strict and specific

[0:38:18] Voice 10: specific limits on the size of the of the second dwelling so yeah

[0:38:23] Voice 12: yeah well yes i suppose in that

[0:38:27] Voice 12: sense there is people will always violate but um that like are you talking about building a new barn

[0:38:35] Voice 12: and then building a suite above that new barn like is that what you're getting in my case my

[0:38:40] Voice 10: farm it wouldn't be a barn but but yeah in my case it would be a cider making facility storage space

[0:38:49] Voice 10: maybe farm offices and a housing unit but my personal situation isn't relevant here i mean

[0:38:56] Voice 10: we're talking from the perspective of agriculture on on salt spring where

[0:39:02] Voice 10: people might well have a processing building or a storage building that you know may or may not be

[0:39:13] Voice 10: a barn and the ALC regulations set out quite specifically what the limits are on the size

[0:39:21] Voice 10: of the dwelling unit. So there'd be no incentive for somebody to build a mega, mega barn and have a

[0:39:27] Voice 10: 10,000 square foot housing unit above it when you're limited to 90 square meters, if you're

[0:39:35] Voice 10: under, was it five hectares and, you know, et cetera. There are strict limits on the size of

[0:39:41] Voice 10: the of the unit so i i don't see where the the risk of of abuse is beyond the regular risk of

[0:39:50] Voice 10: abuse and everybody can try to take advantage i mean we have right i mean the the new rules are

[0:39:58] Voice 10: quite limiting in terms of the size of the second housing unit yeah

[0:40:05] Voice 12: well two quick things and i

[0:40:07] Voice 12: guess before i move on it doesn't have to be a barn i shouldn't have said that it has to be an

[0:40:10] Voice 12: existing building so like your processing facility that that could have accommodation above it like

[0:40:17] Voice 12: so it doesn't have

[0:40:17] Voice 1: to be just just

[0:40:18] Voice 12: a barn no and i mean but that's that's either neither i mean it's

[0:40:23] Voice 12: neither here nor there at this point like this this is the regulation that's passed right so i

[0:40:28] Voice 12: mean you're i guess arguing against policy that's already been passed eight months ago so i mean

[0:40:34] Voice 12: that ship sailed right whether you agree with it or whether i agree with it is almost irrelevant

[0:40:39] Voice 12: relevant at this point for this discussion because it's just it's just not allowed right so right

[0:40:46] Voice 12: yeah

[0:40:49] Trustee Luckham (probable): i can see that there's a potential can of worms here i'm noticing in the chat there's a

[0:40:56] Trustee Luckham (probable): couple of conversations about um that you can all access it but about income from rentals and then

[0:41:04] Trustee Luckham (probable): um a question about uh to geordie i guess is is that letter from april available publicly

[0:41:10] Trustee Luckham (probable): presumably it's available in a folder associated with this project i

[0:41:15] Voice 11: think um just below there rob

[0:41:18] Voice 11: has hopefully linked it uh oh

[0:41:21] Trustee Luckham (probable): i see yeah i'm not reading fast enough um and somebody is leaving

[0:41:27] Trustee Luckham (probable): trustee patrick is leaving the meeting um she'll listen to the recording she's away and it looks

[0:41:33] Trustee Luckham (probable): like she's actually already gone so there we are thank you trustee patrick oh and there's a little

[0:41:38] Trustee Luckham (probable): person hey welcome yeah yeah

[0:41:41] Voice 12: he was crying kind of hard and he wanted dad so i just brought him

[0:41:45] Voice 12: here temporarily so he won't he won't he'll be all right

[0:41:47] Trustee Luckham (probable): no that's that's great i often used to

[0:41:50] Trustee Luckham (probable): bring my kids to work uh on a regular basis as a sort of a mentoring learning opportunity so it's

[0:41:58] Trustee Luckham (probable): good to involve our work i appreciate that so welcome what's your name what's your name bud

[0:42:05] Trustee Luckham (probable): Ed? It's Callum. Okay, Callum, welcome to our meeting. So you got lots of happy faces smiling

[0:42:12] Trustee Luckham (probable): at you. That's great. So yeah, obviously, there's some work to be done here. I think you probably

[0:42:20] Trustee Luckham (probable): agree, Trustee Grove. And indeed, you know, I don't think any of the points you've raised are

[0:42:28] Trustee Luckham (probable): purposeful to restrict. I think we were, the objective was to align our bylaw with the changes

[0:42:37] Trustee Luckham (probable): that came down from the ALC. And indeed, as Reid has indicated, that that's come down some time ago

[0:42:44] Trustee Luckham (probable): and there's even further potential changes into the future. So we have to figure out at the LTC

[0:42:52] Trustee Luckham (probable): see how we want to embrace the concerns we've heard here today. Personally, I don't have any

[0:43:00] Trustee Luckham (probable): objections to anything I've heard. It's a matter of figuring out a good way to do it and understanding

[0:43:05] Trustee Luckham (probable): what consequences are by providing permissions in areas that there may be things that we hadn't

[0:43:14] Trustee Luckham (probable): anticipated. So unfortunately, we end up being more careful and conservative and less nimble

[0:43:22] Trustee Luckham (probable): with respect to that kind of thing but it's out of trying to make sure we're doing the right thing

[0:43:27] Trustee Luckham (probable): is there anything else on this topic or is there some composting i know was the other topic that

[0:43:33] Trustee Luckham (probable): came up i have to confess i need to leave this meeting but and peter grove as well at five no

[0:43:39] Trustee Luckham (probable): later than 5 30 to attend yet another meeting today um and so i don't want to rush you all but

[0:43:45] Trustee Luckham (probable): because i'm really glad that we're all here together and talking about these things um but

[0:43:52] Trustee Luckham (probable): But Anne, do you want to address the composting thing?

[0:43:54] Trustee Luckham (probable): I apologize.

[0:43:55] Trustee Luckham (probable): I just simply haven't had enough hours in the day-to-day to read your email that came

[0:43:59] Trustee Luckham (probable): in a few hours ago.

[0:44:00] Voice 1: Just before we get on to that, there's something else I remembered that we wanted to ask, and

[0:44:05] Voice 1: I don't know whether you would have information about it, but the agricultural community did

[0:44:10] Voice 1: provide quite a bit of input into the trust policy document.

[0:44:17] Voice 1: Can anybody give us an update of where that's at before we get into the composting

[0:44:21] Voice 1: discussion whether uh well

[0:44:24] Trustee Luckham (probable): the best thing to say is there was quite a lot of uh input that we

[0:44:28] Trustee Luckham (probable): received um thousands of uh submissions and that is all being sort of uh digested at this point

[0:44:37] Trustee Luckham (probable): um in fact uh tomorrow uh reason i'm here in nanaimo is because tomorrow we're having a trust

[0:44:43] Trustee Luckham (probable): programs committee meeting to have a specific meeting about uh what we call the 2050 project

[0:44:49] Trustee Luckham (probable): project and to consider all of that input that we've received and determine where that's going

[0:44:57] Trustee Luckham (probable): to fit and what amendments might be necessary. At this time, quite honestly, from my own personal

[0:45:05] Trustee Luckham (probable): perspective, what topics need further discussion and just need to be discussed further as future

[0:45:13] Trustee Luckham (probable): potential amendments to the trust policy statement come along and should be done in that

[0:45:20] Trustee Luckham (probable): way incrementally. That's the intention of the policy statement. We've taken on an awful lot

[0:45:27] Trustee Luckham (probable): by taking on the entire scope and depth and breadth of it. And certainly agriculture is

[0:45:33] Trustee Luckham (probable): important. And so I don't have anything specific to report, except that there's a wealth of

[0:45:40] Trustee Luckham (probable): information that we are sifting through and looking for themes and i'm sure agriculture

[0:45:46] Trustee Luckham (probable): is a theme of its own um and we that work will progress and we'll be looking for a report in

[0:45:52] Trustee Luckham (probable): september at our trust council meeting and there's certainly no doubt that this will be handed off

[0:45:56] Trustee Luckham (probable): to a future trust council to uh continue to work on hope that helps okay

[0:46:05] Voice 1: so to get back to the

[0:46:07] Voice 1: composting discussion we did have a quite a few discussions last year about this topic and

[0:46:15] Voice 1: we didn't actually the agricultural community we didn't put forward a formal proposal which

[0:46:21] Voice 1: we realized we had had not done so this is what we're doing now following up on those

[0:46:27] Voice 1: conversations so basically we're we're um it's the same concerns we raised before

[0:46:33] Voice 1: that the way the composting bylaw is written it assumes certain things that are fine if you're

[0:46:43] Voice 1: in a1 and a2 but it's the same problem we were talking about before if you're not in a1 and a2

[0:46:49] Voice 1: then maybe it's not allowing you to do what you would commonly do on a farm which is making

[0:46:57] Voice 1: compost but maybe bringing in agricultural waste from another farm to make compost which you're

[0:47:03] Voice 1: not allowed to do and um brian for example used the example of his farm where he brings in manure

[0:47:11] Voice 1: from another farm in order to make compost for his apple orchard because he doesn't have any

[0:47:16] Voice 1: livestock himself so um we think that just there's some omissions in what what is written

[0:47:27] Voice 1: it's not clear because again there's assumptions about what the alr regulation says

[0:47:34] Voice 1: that that isn't explicit in in our bylaw so we're suggesting to solve all that that we

[0:47:42] Voice 1: that you change 323.2 of the bylaw and um and that we and it follows along with the alr regulations

[0:47:56] Voice 1: which allows you to bring material in from outside to compost and it allows as a farmer

[0:48:02] Voice 1: farmer to actually sell 50% of that compost should you want to or need to. And our bylaw

[0:48:12] Voice 1: doesn't allow that unless you're a commercial composting facility, which is not what we're

[0:48:18] Voice 1: talking about. So Brian might have some more specific things to say or be able to say it

[0:48:25] Voice 1: more eloquently than I do, but we just need the bylaw to be clear and to allow common

[0:48:35] Voice 1: farming practices to continue in a way that makes sense for sustainable farms and for the health of

[0:48:42] Voice 1: the ecosystem.

[0:48:46] Trustee Luckham (probable): Okay, thank you Anne. Brian, did you want to add into that and maybe ask the staff

[0:48:52] Trustee Luckham (probable): where we're at with that because certainly we discussed it previously and I don't know that

[0:48:57] Trustee Luckham (probable): that we provided any specific direction, but.

[0:49:00] Voice 10: Yeah, I don't have much to add as the letter,

[0:49:05] Voice 10: the letter suggests simply changing one line

[0:49:09] Voice 10: in the existing by-law 355,

[0:49:15] Voice 10: the one that Dan mentioned 3.23.2,

[0:49:22] Voice 10: changing it so that it removes the reference

[0:49:26] Voice 10: to the waste being limited to what's produced on site

[0:49:33] Voice 10: and making reference to the 50% being used on site,

[0:49:39] Voice 10: which implicitly means that you could sell the other half

[0:49:42] Voice 10: because the way it's written right now,

[0:49:46] Voice 10: those of us within the ALR can bring stuff in

[0:49:52] Voice 10: from outside the property even though the bylaw doesn't permit it because the ALC regulations do

[0:50:02] Voice 10: and so they take precedence so we can do that but the half of the farms that are not

[0:50:06] Voice 10: within the ALR are limited I mean nobody does I mean that's part of the problem here in

[0:50:15] Voice 10: writing the rules I presume that the trust has a general desire to write rules that people

[0:50:21] Voice 10: can and will follow. And the problem with it as it's written now is that I understand pretty much

[0:50:28] Voice 10: every single farm compost, and the vast majority of the farms that compost bring material in from

[0:50:36] Voice 10: off the farm in order to effectively produce compost and mentioned that I'll have apple

[0:50:42] Voice 10: pomace. And if you try to compost apple pomace by itself, you have a sticky orange masts for years.

[0:50:48] Voice 10: Yet, if you mix it 50-50 with some horse manure, which is what I do, you get a perfect compost that you can use on your farm.

[0:50:56] Voice 10: I can use in the pots for the apple trees that we sell.

[0:50:59] Voice 10: It's a win-win for everyone.

[0:51:01] Voice 10: The person with the horses can't get rid of the manure.

[0:51:04] Voice 10: We very much need it to be able to compost our apple palmists.

[0:51:07] Voice 10: It really works.

[0:51:08] Voice 10: We can do it legally because the ALC regulations permit it.

[0:51:14] Voice 10: But half the farms in Salt Spring can't because 323.2 right now says that you can only use agricultural waste produced on site.

[0:51:29] Voice 10: site and further implicit in the regulations is that if you sell it it's commercial composting

[0:51:39] Voice 10: which is a whole other can of worms in which we have heard from the trust is not legal to do in

[0:51:46] Voice 10: zones other than the general employment zones because the the regulations were changed to

[0:51:53] Voice 10: permitted in those zones and implicitly then all the other zones it's not permitted so simply we

[0:52:01] Voice 10: think by tweaking 323.2 it solves both problems nice and neatly and tidily and because the

[0:52:12] Voice 10: composting is already regulated by both the province and the regional district we would

[0:52:17] Voice 10: suggest that maybe the trust doesn't need to be too actively involved in adding a third layer of

[0:52:24] Voice 10: regulation on something that is uh quite well taken care of um you know across the the crd and

[0:52:32] Voice 10: across the province okay

[0:52:35] Trustee Luckham (probable): thank you brian so it's probably unfair of me to ask geordie whether they

[0:52:40] Trustee Luckham (probable): had an opportunity to see that email or you received that email about composting it might

[0:52:45] Trustee Luckham (probable): be better to direct that to the regional planning manager um because of course you're not tasked

[0:52:50] Trustee Luckham (probable): specifically with all things farming um you happen to be the planner on 526 and i want to respect

[0:52:57] Trustee Luckham (probable): that and so are there any thoughts from either uh rpm garbo or uh that composting topic thank you

[0:53:08] Voice 11: chair yeah i did uh have a chance to review the letter uh briefly before the meeting i think it's

[0:53:13] Voice 11: a reasonable almost technical update to the land use bylaw. I think the other significant change

[0:53:23] Voice 11: here is the inclusion of agricultural waste which is a clearly defined product in the land use bylaw

[0:53:33] Voice 11: so just to make sure that that's you know clear that this is not becoming what would otherwise

[0:53:39] Voice 11: as be defined as a commercial composting facility but yeah it seems to be a reasonable technical

[0:53:46] Voice 11: amendment and i think if the ltc were to add it to its sort of project list of bylaw amendment

[0:53:53] Voice 11: updates it would be appropriate there but i would caution that that has no resources assigned to it

[0:53:59] Voice 11: as yet so when that is achieved is is a is another question

[0:54:04] Trustee Luckham (probable): right and certainly the moment we're

[0:54:08] Trustee Luckham (probable): resource strapped, but

[0:54:10] Trustee Luckham (probable): it's

[0:54:10] Voice 4: also in the

[0:54:11] Trustee Luckham (probable): long-standing interest

[0:54:12] Trustee Luckham (probable): so it would be reasonable for the LTC

[0:54:14] Trustee Luckham (probable): to think about when the next

[0:54:16] Trustee Luckham (probable): opportunity might be.

[0:54:18] Voice 3: Trustee Joe?

[0:54:19] Voice 3: What makes a composting facility

[0:54:21] Voice 3: commercial?

[0:54:25] Voice 3: What makes a composting

[0:54:27] Voice 3: facility commercial?

[0:54:29] Voice 11: Well,

[0:54:32] Voice 11: it's sort of a high-level view. So long as you're

[0:54:35] Voice 11: not composting agricultural

[0:54:36] Voice 11: waste, right, or

[0:54:38] Voice 11: or backyard processing of compost that you have from your own household use,

[0:54:46] Voice 11: but then otherwise you become subject to organic matter recycling regulation

[0:54:51] Voice 11: if you're talking about composting outputs from restaurants or other commercial ventures.

[0:55:00] Voice 11: So agricultural waste composting is pretty clear there's an exception

[0:55:06] Voice 11: exception to any need for you know any further regulation around that um under the omrr um so

[0:55:14] Voice 11: i think this does just sort of bring bring greater clarity to the bylaw with this change

[0:55:23] Voice 3: okay i'm curious chair and are you feeling any better about this as a consequence of the

[0:55:29] Voice 3: conversation yes

[0:55:33] Voice 1: i mean if if it can be done within the next 10 years i mean ideally in the

[0:55:38] Voice 1: the next 10 months I'm not so happy it's if it's going to take 10 years to get on the list

[0:55:43] Voice 1: but um otherwise I mean unfortunately I mean and I recognize it doesn't it doesn't help our

[0:55:49] Voice 1: situation at Burgoyne because we're actually putting in a commercial composter because we are

[0:55:56] Voice 1: um use hoping to be able to compost organic waste as opposed to just agricultural waste there but

[0:56:02] Voice 1: But that's a different issue.

[0:56:04] Voice 1: But we would like to solve the one for the farms right now.

[0:56:09] Voice 1: Yeah,

[0:56:11] Trustee Luckham (probable): so I think we need to consider that in context

[0:56:16] Trustee Luckham (probable): of what other priority items are on our list.

[0:56:19] Trustee Luckham (probable): But as I said, this has obviously been an interest for a long time.

[0:56:23] Trustee Luckham (probable): I also know it's a significant interest on other islands.

[0:56:26] Trustee Luckham (probable): On my own island, we are thinking about soil deposit

[0:56:29] Trustee Luckham (probable): and removal bylaws in relationship to composting

[0:56:32] Trustee Luckham (probable): because we want to have the same composting capability so there's opportunity for some

[0:56:38] Trustee Luckham (probable): synergy throughout the trust on this any other thoughts on composting or any other topic although

[0:56:49] Trustee Luckham (probable): i did enjoy the pun there brian a can of worms because that strikes me that my old composter was

[0:56:55] Trustee Luckham (probable): a tub of worms everybody gotta laugh like that that's good let's keep laughing in the face of

[0:57:06] Trustee Luckham (probable): of all this respectfully.

[0:57:07] Trustee Luckham (probable): So any other thoughts or anything we'd like

[0:57:11] Trustee Luckham (probable): to talk about today?

[0:57:12] Voice 6: Chair.

[0:57:13] Trustee Luckham (probable): Yes, please, Louisa Garbo.

[0:57:15] Voice 6: Hi, I just want to mention,

[0:57:18] Voice 6: we kind of inadvertently brought up the bylaw 530.

[0:57:24] Voice 6: This is something that's in the works

[0:57:26] Voice 6: and it's going to bring before they brought

[0:57:28] Voice 6: before the LTC this coming Tuesday to look at it.

[0:57:32] Voice 6: And we haven't bring before this group, mainly because we didn't manage to have that time frame to try to squeeze it in.

[0:57:44] Voice 6: But it's fully intended to bring it forward, I think, in July, late July, when you have a meeting, we will bring that bylaw forward.

[0:57:55] Voice 6: and I have a feeling that it might address some of the concerns

[0:57:59] Voice 6: that talk about accessory dwelling units in area in World Zone

[0:58:05] Voice 6: because according to the bylaw, we're proposing to allow that

[0:58:10] Voice 6: and it doesn't matter

[0:58:11] Voice 6: whether it's farm working or not.

[0:58:14] Voice 6: So that's something that we'll bring to you at your next meeting,

[0:58:19] Voice 6: your upcoming meeting.

[0:58:21] Voice 6: And I just want to comment on, yes, I agree.

[0:58:25] Voice 6: new project uh i appreciate that bylaws look simple uh but like we talk about i i heard we

[0:58:33] Voice 6: mentioned that i totally agree sometimes things look very simple but it has unintended consequences

[0:58:39] Voice 6: with the rest of the bylaw not so much of whether it's it's worthy or not looking at it or not

[0:58:46] Voice 6: sometimes a bylaw just have this ripple effect so we do need to take that into consideration

[0:58:53] Voice 6: And right now, we, like Jody mentioned, we really don't have a lot of resources. And so I certainly think LTC can put it in the priority list, and they can put it on top of the priority list.

[0:59:08] Voice 6: once we get this wave of projects out of the way we can start looking at it i'm i'm talking about

[0:59:17] Voice 6: not 10 years not 10 months but maybe even four months we can start looking at prioritize what

[0:59:24] Voice 6: are the needs um so we appreciate your patient and certainly i will remind trustees especially

[0:59:31] Voice 6: right now at the end of the term we don't know what the next round of project is going to become

[0:59:37] Voice 6: come a priority. So that may be something that as staff, we can remind the trustees in the new term

[0:59:43] Voice 6: as well, that this is something that your group is certainly very passionate about and really want

[0:59:50] Voice 6: us to take a look at.

[0:59:53] Trustee Luckham (probable): Great. And sort of one of the things that has evolved

[1:00:00] Trustee Luckham (probable): the trust at the moment is for the current LTCs to send a message to the incoming LTC

[1:00:07] Trustee Luckham (probable): what after their one or more terms as a trustee, what they think are the priorities so that they

[1:00:14] Trustee Luckham (probable): can take that into consideration when they would make their own priority list. And hopefully

[1:00:20] Trustee Luckham (probable): four months, it'd be good to squeak something like this under the wire before there's a change

[1:00:26] Trustee Luckham (probable): of guard but if not we should certainly advise the incoming body that this is a priority yeah

[1:00:37] Trustee Luckham (probable): thank you regional planning manager Garbo thank you anything else no well perhaps we'll

[1:00:51] Trustee Luckham (probable): adjourn this meeting and of course it's been recorded and I know Gordy has taken notes and

[1:00:59] Trustee Luckham (probable): And both of these bylaws, 526 and 530, I think it is, will be on our agenda next week.

[1:01:07] Trustee Luckham (probable): And certainly we can discuss how to advance some of these things.

[1:01:13] Trustee Luckham (probable): So any closing remarks, Peter Grove?

[1:01:16] Voice 3: Nothing other than thank you all.

[1:01:18] Voice 3: Really appreciate your taking the time to talk to us.

[1:01:21] Voice 3: It's really helpful.

[1:01:22] Voice 3: Thank you.

[1:01:22] Trustee Luckham (probable): Okay.

[1:01:23] Trustee Luckham (probable): Well, let's call the meeting adjourned.

[1:01:25] Trustee Luckham (probable): And thank you, everybody.

[1:01:27] Trustee Luckham (probable): And thank you, Bradley, for your new face here.

[1:01:29] Trustee Luckham (probable): and thank you, Reid, for coming in from the province to assist us with that. That's helpful.

[1:01:35] Trustee Luckham (probable): I hope to see you here at future meetings as well. And everybody else, thank you very much.

[1:01:40] Trustee Luckham (probable): Thank you.

[1:01:40] Voice 6: Thank you.

[1:01:41] Voice 6: Good luck with the weather

[1:01:42] Trustee Luckham (probable): and your farms.

[1:01:44] Trustee Luckham (probable): Thank you.

[1:01:45] Trustee Luckham (probable): Thank you.

[1:01:46] Voice 4: Thank you.

Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee  
Special Meeting 
Minutes ADOPTED
  1 
July 7, 2022 
  
 
Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee 
Minutes of a Special Meeting 
 
Date: Thursday, July 7, 2022 
  
Location: Electronic Meeting 
  
Members Present: 
 
 
Peter Luckham, Chair  
Peter Grove, Local Trustee 
Laura Patrick, Local Trustee 
 
Staff Present: 
 
 
 
Others Present: 
Louisa Garbo, Acting Regional Planning Manager 
Geordie Gordon, Acting Island Planner 
Rob Pingle, Recorder
 
 
 
Ken Byron, Agricultural Advisory Planning Committee 
Gordon Brent Brochu-Ingram, Agricultural Advisory Planning Committee 
Bree Eagle, Agricultural Advisory Planning Committee 
Conrad Pilon, Agricultural Advisory Planning Committee  
Anne Macey, Agricultural Alliance 
Bradley Dammsgard, Agricultural Alliance 
Brian Webster
, 
Agricultural Alliance 
Marguerite Lee, Agricultural Alliance 
Mike Lane, Agricultural Alliance 
Anna Pugh, Agricultural Alliance 
Reed Bailey, Ministry of Agriculture 
 
At least one member of the public
 
 
 
These minutes follow the order of the agenda although the sequence may have varied.  
 
1. CALL TO ORDER 
  
Chair Luckham called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. and welcomed everyone to an electronic 
meeting of the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee. Chair Luckham introduced himself, the 
Trustees, staff and attendees and humbly stated gratitude to live and work in Coast Salish First 
Nations treaty and traditional territory. Introductions were carried out. 
 
2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 
 
 By general consent the agenda was approved. 
 
3. PROPOSED BYLAW NO. 526 (FARMWORKER HOUSING) 

 
 
Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee  
Special Meeting 
Minutes ADOPTED
  2 
July 7, 2022 
  
 
Planner Gordon spoke to the upcoming second reading of the proposed bylaw. 
 
In discussion the following items were raised: 
 Use of housing for family, farm workers or agri-tourism. 
 Permission of farm products processing and sales with farmers from other properties. 
 Farm uses under section 2 of the ALR Use Regulation are permitted in most bylaws reviewed 
by the Ministry of Agriculture. 
 Change the permissions in all zones where agriculture is allowed to be consistent with the 
ALR Use Regulation and A1 and A2 zone. 
 The ability for the second dwelling to be included in a farm building. 
 The Ministry of Agriculture restricts a new build of a dwelling from being combined with a 
farm building. 
 
Trustee Patrick left the meeting at 4:37 p.m. 
 
4. OPEN DISCUSSION 
  
There was a question regarding the process for the Trust Policy document. An update was 
provided by Chair Luckham that included the special meeting on July 8 of the Trust Programs 
Committee. 
 
A letter from the Agricultural Alliance, dated July 7, 2022 was received regarding the allowances 
for composting within Land Use Bylaw No 355. There was discussion regarding the letter. It was 
suggested section 3.23 of the bylaw be amended to align with the ALC regulations. 
 
It was noted that proposed Bylaw No. 530 would be brought to the Agricultural Advisory 
Planning Committee at their July meeting for comment.  
 
5. ADJOURNMENT 
 
By general consent the meeting adjourned at 5:01 p.m. 
 
 
 
_________________________ 
Peter Luckham, Chair 
 
CERTIFIED CORRECT: 
 
 
_________________________ 
Rob Pingle, Recorder