Weddings on Fraser Valley farms may become a thing of the past, if stricter rules for agricultural land use in B.C. are adopted.
Caroline Mosterman, who owns CPM Farms on Sumas Prairie, has hosted weddings, fundraisers, and garden club events on her land for six years. With blueberry fields and a water plant nursery on the farm, the venue has built-in outdoor ambience. But on Sept. 28, the Agricultural Land Commission delivered a stop-work order, telling her to cancel all non-farm events.
“It’s going to be crippling to the agri-tourism industry,” Mosterman said. There were five weddings scheduled for this fall, plus more in 2016 and 2017. She has been told she needs to apply for a non-farm use permit to start hosting events again – a process that requires local and provincial approval and can take up to two years.
It was one of many stop-work orders issued by the ALC to B.C. farms this year, including some in Chilliwack, Langley, Kelowna and on Vancouver Island.
Laura Rodgers – Abbotsford News – Dec 4, 2015.
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