Farm weddings cancelled after ALC demands compliance
Agricultural Land Commission's crackdown on rural nuptials leaves Woodbridge Pond with no happily ever afters
An Abbotsford, B.C. farmer says she will have to cancel more than two dozen weddings on her farm after all, due to new demands from the Agricultural Land Commission in its crackdown on rural nuptials.
Woodbridge Ponds owner Caroline Mostertman says she had five more weddings booked at her blueberry farm this year and nearly two dozen before the end of 2016 — but she will have to cancel them all.
"At this point I just have to admit that there's no hope that we'll be able to finish off the weddings for next year," Mostertman told CBC News on Wednesday.
Mostertman's problems began in the fall, when the ALC apparently began a crackdown on non-agricultural activity — like weddings — on the lands it governs.
Both Woodbridge Ponds in Abbotsford and Bottega Farm in Kelowna received orders telling them to stop hosting weddings, despite having bookings in the days ahead.
ALC rules clearly state that non-agricultural activity is not allowed on the lands it governs, but Bottega Farm has since been allowed to honour its existing bookings through 2016.
Not so for Mostertman, who says she is being asked to get her buildings up to the City of Abbotsford's fire and building codes and apply for a non-farm use permit, which requires official support from the city.
The city then needs to send that application to the ALC for another round of approvals.
Mostertman says the permit can take two years to obtain — although the chair of the ALC, Frank Leonard, said if she gets her paperwork done, the commission will review the farm's application within weeks.
And, in a bid to address the overall issue, the ALC has also sent out a draft policy on non-farm uses for farm lands and has extended the deadline for comment on how agri-tourism should be regulated in B.C. until Jan. 15.
But all of that is cold comfort to Serena Miller, one of the brides-to-be who will now no longer be walking down the aisle in the lush fields of Woodbridge Ponds.
"I just finished planning everything and now I'm back to square one again. This close to Christmas? This is not what I want to be doing."
With files from Lien Yeung.