The origin of the Large Holdings designation in Electoral Area “D-2” can be traced to the Land Use Settlement Plan (Bylaw No. 630) for Okanagan Falls adopted by the Board at its meeting of July 21, 1983. 

This Plan created, for the first time, an “Openland and Farmland” designation in Electoral Area “D”, the objective of which was “to protect and preserve productive farmland and … other special resource management areas”; which appears to have been a “catchall” type of zoning.

Over the years and various bylaw reviews, this designation morphed into the Large Holdings (LH) designation in the Electoral Area "D-2" Official Community Plan (OCP) Bylaw and the LH3 Zone in the zoning bylaw.

It is currently applied to a disparate number of properties within the Electoral Area, including back-country water reservoir sites, environmentally sensitive lands maintained by conservation organisations agricultural operations on McLean Creek Road and residential sites within the Okanagan Falls town centre area.

Due to the significant similarities that exist between the LH3 and Resource Area (RA) zones, the Regional District is proposing to apply the RA Zone to a majority of properties currently zoned LH3.  A comparison table of the RA and LH3 regulations is provided below under "Draft Documents".

The RA Zone is not, however, a suitable new zoning for all properties currently zoned LH3, either due to size, location, current use or designation under the OCP Bylaw.

Regional District staff have completed a review of all properties zoned LH3 and have contacted affected property owners and, in some cases, proposed alternate zonings, such as Large Holdings One (LH1), Large Holdings Two (LH2), Small Holdings Three (SH3), Residential Single Family One (RS1) or Conservation Area (CA).

Specific proposals are contained within the draft versions of Amendment Bylaws No. 2603.12 and 2455.30 (dated 2017-12-13), and affected property owners are encouraged to contact Regional District staff to discuss further.