Pitt Meadows had a successful showing at the Lower Mainland Local Government Association’s 2024 annual conference, with all three of its resolutions receiving full endorsements.
The resolutions all revolved around the use of agricultural land, which was identified as a priority issue in the city’s new Agricultural Viability Strategy.
Before being recommended to the province, the proposals were first sent off to the LMLGA, whose membership includes 29 local governments and three regional districts.
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The first of the motions asked that an unfarmed land tax be created to help promote farming on Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) property.
The LMLGA resolutions committee passed the resolution, noting that previous tax proposals that encouraged farming on ALR land had been approved at the provincial level.
The second motion requested the province amend the School Act to no longer include a 50 per cent school tax exemption for vacant or unused land within the ALR.
This was also endorsed by the LMLGA committee without any further recommendations.
The final motion from Pitt Meadows was about the need to increase the income threshold to $7,000 in order to qualify for farm classification. The resolutions also asked that the province review this income threshold every five years.
The LMLGA committee recognized that the income threshold had not been revised for a long time, and gave its endorsement to the resolution.
Pitt Meadows CAO Mark Roberts credited city staff with putting together such a thorough Agricultural Viability Study, which led to the creation of these three resolutions.
“I want to commend city staff, the consulting team, council, and our community, whose expertise and hard work helped to create this leading-edge and visionary strategy,” said Roberts.
“We are proud to be moving forward with a number of actions and we are set to bring our resolutions forward at the UBCM convention for continued progress on agricultural initiatives.”
READ MORE: City of Pitt Meadows endorses new Agricultural Viability Strategy
All three of these resolutions will now be headed to the Union of BC Municipalities, which is the larger government association and includes the LMLGA as well as four other sub-associations within the province.
The 2024 UBCM Convention will take place from Sept. 16 to 20 in Vancouver.
