Vancouver, BC, farmer told by city she can’t raise chickens on farmland

Robin Friesen (left) and partner Jordan Maynard on their Vancouver farm. ARLEN REDEKOP / PNG

“I didn’t take (the bylaw officer) seriously. This is Agricultural Land Reserve land. I told him to go back and read the laws.”

By Glenda Luymes
Vancouver Sun
April 9, 2017

Excerpt:

But what Friesen and her partner Jordan Maynard didn’t know was that although their little piece of top-quality farmland in Vancouver’s Southlands neighbourhood is technically in the ALR, it is also subject to a condition that affects no other farmland in B.C.

According to the both the City of Vancouver and the Agricultural Land Commission, the ALR land in Southlands is governed by city bylaws on such things as noise, smell and the number of chickens a farmer can keep, rather than the provincial Right to Farm Act that normally governs ALR land. The provincial legislation allows farmers to keep livestock and tend crops that might irritate neighbours in an urban setting.

The order affecting Southlands was written in 1989, explained Commission executive director Kim Grout, who was not aware of it until contacted about Friesen’s case.

The order seems to recognize the uniqueness of Southlands, which the City of Vancouver website describes as an “urban country neighbourhood.” These days, upscale mansions and equestrian facilities dominate the area along the north shore of the Fraser River, but decades ago it was dotted with nurseries, greenhouses, orchards and stables.

Read the complete article here.