Agricultural Zoning

CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.

What's Happening?

In the CVRD, agriculturally zoned lands include all lands within the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), plus lands that have high agricultural potential, as identified in the anticipated Modernized Official Community Plan (MOCP).

Currently, there are 36 distinct agricultural zones within the CVRD’s existing zoning bylaws. As part of the development of a new region-wide Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw (CZB) for the CVRD’s nine electoral areas, the CVRD is updating its agricultural zoning regulations. The new CZB will:

Reduce the total number of zones in electoral areas, including agricultural zones
Update zoning throughout the electoral areas to create more consistent zoning regulations
Better align with current best practices and the MOCP policies, which include strengthening protection of agricultural land

Updates to agricultural zoning will help protect agricultural lands and food systems to build community resilience, support economic viability, and retain our region’s character.

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to join us at the agricultural zoning meetings on Tuesday, November 5 at Cobble Hill Farmers Institute and Heritage Hall, Cowichan Valley Community Centre. Your feedback shared during these meetings will help us develop and refine the Draft Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw in 2025. Stay tuned for further updates in 2025.