Sicamous council is supporting an application to exclude property on the Twin Anchors Marine Manufacturing site from the Agricultural Land Reserve.
The Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) application, submitted by Kyllo Properties for 675 Old Town Rd., relates to property on the back portion of the industrial site that is, technically, still in the land reserve, despite its historic industrial use. The ALC recognizes that use and has no objections to it, commented district community planner Mike Marrs. Furthermore, the ALC offered its support to exclude the 6.1-hectare portion of land from the reserve back in 2007.
The ALC’s review from 2007 notes that while the land “has capacity for agricultural use, its awkward shape, relatively small size and adjoining industrial uses limit the likelihood of agricultural development.”
The intent behind the 2007 application was to use a portion of the property for worker housing, with the majority to be used for houseboat and mini-storage. The ALC did not object to part of the land being used for housing, provided it didn’t become permanent residential development. It offered its approval of the exclusion provided several conditions were met, one of them being the rezoning of the property to reflect industrial and seasonal residential uses. But, as noted by Marrs, while work to fulfill conditions of the approval were started, “economic conditions deteriorated, causing delays during which the conditional time frame stated in the approval lapsed.”
With the current application, Marrs said it’s possible the ALC will come back with other requirements, but, “from what I’ve gathered in our discussions, they’re more or less prepared to reinstate that exclusion.”