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According to a member of the Agricultural Land Commission, a decision by Bo.ttega Farms to cancel numerous weddings booked on the property was the operators' alone.
Commission member Gerry Zimmermann confirmed to Castanet News a letter was sent to Bo.ttega in October telling the operators to cease and desist from booking weddings on the property.
In a story published Tuesday morning by Castanet, as many as 44 weddings had been cancelled by the venue, stating, in part: "The BC Agricultural Land Commission has effectively issued a provincewide order that no further weddings be held within ALR (Agricultural Land Reserve) zoned properties."
"At no time did the land commission ever ask them to cancel anything that was pre-booked. We would never do that. We don't work that way. We've never asked anyone to do that, and we're not in this case," said Zimmermann.
"As far as we're concerned, anybody that was booked before they received that letter, basically that's OK."
He says he knows nothing of a provincewide ban on weddings.
Zimmermann said the commission received a complaint that Bo.ttega Farm was hosting weddings, something an enforcement officer with the commission confirmed upon visiting the site in September.
The officer told Bo.ttega they were doing so without a non-farm use permit and said they would have to put in an application.
"As of Oct. 1, they hadn't done this. So, I believe he sent them a letter sometime in October saying cease and desist from booking further weddings.
"What Bo.tteega took that as meaning, I guess, because I can't speak for them, (was that) that they had to cancel everything. I don 't know what their reasoning was."
Zimmermann says non-farm uses are made to help subsidize a farm and are not meant as the primary purpose or revenue stream.
"Non-farm uses are put in there as an extra activity to help the farmer make a living and stay on the farm. That's why they are allowed. They are not meant to be the primary use for that property.
"Say you want to put up a welding shop on a farm, you have to apply for a non-farm use."
Owners of Bo.ttega Farm were in meetings and have yet to respond to a request for comment.
