Village staff in Harrison Hot Springs are still sniffing out the details of a potential off-leash dog park.
There are currently two proposed locations for the dog park: a one-acre lot adjacent to McCombs Drive and a half-acre lot on Hot Springs Road, which is normally reserved for overflow parking for special events and during the high tourism season.
Village staff confirmed that the McCombs Drive location – at the intersection of Chestnut Avenue and McCombs – is on the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR). The ALR is a provincial zone in which agriculture is given priority use above all other potential land uses. Non-agricultural use is possible but significantly restricted.
RELATED: Survey: Support seems to remain strong for off-leash dog park in Harrison
The Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) is a provincial organization overseeing the ALR. While “open land parks” fall under permitted non-farm use of ALR land, an off-leash dog park does not explicitly fall under a potential permitted non-farm use category.
Harrison’s operations manager and acting deputy CAO Tyson Koch told The Observer that village staff is still in the process of compiling information on both potential off-leash dog park locations to present to council at a later date.
Other permitted non-farm uses include but aren’t necessarily limited to open land parks, home-based businesses, and certain compost application, production and storage.
The District of Kent was heavily involved in working with the ALC concerning potential non-farm use of ALR land adjacent to the Agassiz townsite. Up until last year, the District of Kent worked for decades to exclude the “Teacup properties” from the ALR, hoping to use the top-grade farm land for housing developments in exchange for a larger area of lower-quality farmland elsewhere in the district.
RELATED: ALC denies Kent’s request to reconsider Teacup properties exclusion
The ALC ruled against the Teacup exclusion multiple times, including in 2005, 2017, 2018 and 2021. Last year, the ALC denied the district’s request for reconsideration, stating they cannot consider further requests on the matter. The ALC stated that while the district thoroughly articulated their dissent with the 2021 ruling, Section 33 of the Agricultural Land Commission Amendment Act only allows for reconsideration based on new evidence or if previously considered information was proven incorrect or false.
While the district has created their own off-leash dog parks in Agassiz, the same topic has been up for discussion in the village a number of times over the past two years. The village conducted a survey in 2021 in which 87 per cent of respondents supported an off-leash dog park in the village; 95 per cent of the 221 respondents identified as residents of Harrison Hot Springs. According to the 2021 survey, most residents approved of spending between $50,000 to $75,000 for the off-leash dog park. At the time, most residents preferred the Firehall Park as the preferred location of the off-leash dog park.
During a Committee of the Whole meeting in January, the village council voted 4-1 to seek further public engagement for off-leash dog parks and to direct staff to canvas adjacent properties to the two proposed locations. Mayor Ed Wood was opposed.
adam.louis@ ahobserver.com
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