How will the Critical Areas Ordinance affect existing agriculture?
The agriculture provisions in the Critical Areas package clearly provide for existing agriculture to continue within wetland and aquatic (stream) buffers. The Clearing and Grading Ordinance streamlines permitting for agricultural ditch maintenance by eliminating the requirements for a clearing and grading permit where ditch maintenance is carried out in accordance with an approved Farm Plan. On the whole, agriculture should have stronger regulatory certainty under the new Critical Areas standards than under existing regulations.
