The courts have declined a petition to remove a Surrey golf course and driving range from the protected Agricultural Land Reserve.
Birdies and Buckets Family Golf Course.
(Photo: Birdies and Buckets website)
On July 22, the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver released a reasons for judgment between R.N.L Investments and the Provincial Agricultural Land Commission.
R.N.L Investments, also known as Birdies and Buckets Family Golf Centre, operates a driving range and par-3 golf course on 9.35 acres at 5228 King George Blvd. It had applied for exclusion under the ALR but was denied by the province.
City records show the owners of the golf course planned to develop the property as an industrial park.
The original application to the provincial Agricultural Land Commission (ALC), panel was successful, but was later denied after ALC reconsideration.
The petitioner felt that the ALC chair was “biased and fettered in his discretion” regarding the final finding.
The ALC argued that in undertook its statutory responsibilities and followed the letter of the law in its final finding.
Justice Gordon Funt agreed.
“If the court were to accede the petitioner’s argument, the legislative purpose could be undermined,” Funt wrote in his July 22 findings. “I also disagree with the petitioner’s submission that the executive committee exceeded its authority…”
The petition was dismissed without costs.