A recent report to Metro Vancouver's Finance Committee outlines a proposed approach to address concerns raised by the agriculture industry about the impacts of the regional district's development cost charges (DCCs) on intensive agriculture, which includes greenhouses.
Metro staff last fall met agriculture industry representatives including Metro Vancouver's Agricultural Advisory Committee and the Greenhouse Growers Association over their concerns regarding the impacts of Metro's DCC costs on intensive agriculture developments.
Intensive agriculture also refers to such developments as retail nurseries, manufacturing and processing plants for agriculture-related products, facilities used for intensive livestock purposes, as well as commercial businesses located within agricultural zones.
Metro Vancouver's DCC framework currently only has one non-residential rate, which may not be suitable for greenhouse developments given the small demand on infrastructure relative to their size of buildable area, the report notes, adding there are four member jurisdictions that have an intensive agriculture rate for municipal DCCs, and those are relatively lower in comparison to the other non-residential categories.
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