To slow the rising cost of farmland and encourage more food production, Saanich council wants to limit the size of homes built on agricultural-zoned property to 400 square metres or 4,300 square feet.
Council voted 8-1 in favour of the move, which affects about 2,600 properties in the district. Staff had recommended a limit of 500 square metres or 5,300 square feet.
Only Coun. Colin Plant voted against the proposed zoning bylaw amendment, saying he was concerned about lack of notice. “I just don’t want anybody claiming that we’re doing something in a way that wasn’t respectful for public input,” he said.
The zoning bylaw amendment will come back to council Oct. 28 for final reading.
A district staff report noted construction of large homes can lead to land fragmentation, reduces available arable agricultural land and can encourage non-agricultural activities.
They can also increase property value, making it difficult to acquire land for farming.
“One trend that is clear is that the biggest barrier to the viability of farmland is the price of farmland,” said Coun. Zac de Vries. “And the biggest driver of the cost of farmland is, by and large, the improvements that you can do on that land.”
De Vries said reducing allowable house size could reduce escalation in farmland prices, while still allowing a sizeable home that can accommodate multiple generations.
The Ministry of Agriculture and the Agricultural Land Commission have recommended limiting the size of a primary residence on farmland to 500 square metres, though many communities have opted to go lower.
Richmond, for example, has set the upper limit at 400 square metres.
There are 2,665 properties in Saanich zoned for agricultural use, including 533 in the Agricultural Land Reserve.
Currently, homes and other structures are permitted to cover just 40 per cent of an agricultural-zoned property that is smaller than 2,000 square metres, while there is no coverage limit for parcels with a lot area greater than 2,000 square metres.
By comparison, in the rest of Saanich, depending on lot size, the maximum size of a single-family home varies from 261 square metres (2,800 square feet) to 1,000 square metres (10,764 square feet).
Most single-family homes in the district have a maximum size of 310 square metres or 3,337 square feet.
Coun. Nathalie Chambers said as a farmer who operates a small organic farm in Saanich, she has been “very much impacted by the mega mansions.”
“Our food security really is about the price of farmland — it’s the largest obstacle to food security and the ability for farmers to attain farmland.”
Mayor Dean Murdock said the rationale for reducing the maximum house size on farm properties is to limit the potential for those properties to be lost forever to farming.
“People can continue to enjoy [the property] for their personal use. But limiting that house size ensures that it doesn’t lose the long-term potential for food production,” he said.
