ALC orders Vancouver Island campground to shut down and return land to agricultural use

A popular Vancouver Island campground could soon disappear.

The owners of the Chemainus River Campground, located about 80 kilometres north of Victoria, B.C., have been told by the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC), the administrative body that oversees the province's Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), they must return their property to the ALR by Oct. 1.

John and Jeri Wyatt, who bought the property in 1980, found themselves in hot water with the ALC when they recently applied for a permit to add 10 more sites to the existing 45 RV and tent sites the campground currently has.

John Wyatt told On The Island in a phone interview the ALC not only rejected their application, it told them to shut down their entire operation. 

Now, campers and the region's mayor are rallying to keep the Wyatts in business.

Pleading with the province

North Cowichan Mayor Al Siebring wrote a letter Friday to the Ministry of Agriculture asking to have the campground excluded from the ALR. According to Siebring, the property was given approval from the ALC in the 1980s to operate as a campground and was never used for agricultural production. 

"The only thing that's ever grown there is trees and rocks," said Siebring, adding the province is in the middle of a housing crisis and reverting back to ALR land would mean evicting at least a dozen people who live there year round.

Siebring told On The Island host Gregor Craigie he is also planning to raise the issue with provincial government representatives at the upcoming Union of B.C. Municipalities convention during the last week of September.

The Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement to On The Island it is reviewing Siebring's letter "and as such it would be inappropriate to comment at this time."

Over 1,000 campers have signed a petition the Wyatts began circulating this summer when the ALC gave them the ultimatum.