Woodstock City Council Permits Annual Land Use Agreements

Sunday, 7 April 2019 07:51

The lands are used to maintain agricultural production until it is needed for industrial development.

WOODSTOCK - Woodstock City Council approved the decision to have staff sign annual land use agreements.

The decision will allow the vacant areas to be used to maintain agricultural production.

Mayor Trevor Birtch says the lands will be able to be used for farming.

"What this allows for is some of our vacant industrial land for future businesses and business parks that those areas of land can be farmed, they can be planted with crops and that ensures that there is no weeds or unsightly vegetation and continues to keep all of the neighbours happy. Some of these land use agreements, of course, the parcels of land are getting smaller and we'll be looking to add more in the future."

Mayor Birtch says this also helps the agricultural industry.

"This keeps the land in use for agriculture, which helps with one of our main industries."

Mayor Birtch says they used to sign the land agreements on a multi-year basis.

"In the past we would have multi-year agreements. Of course, in the past we had much more land that was under the city's management waiting for that future industrial growth. Now with the smaller parcels and the fracturing of that we've had a lot of good sales of land here in the community, so now year by year we reevaluate our needs."

According to the report, staff are happy with the current lease rates the city is given for the land, which is reflective of the overall market. The city's success in selling industrial land for development has seen a decline in acreage available for lease every year, along with the reduction in the average sized parcel leased.

The report also says that staff have developed a good relationship with the current land tenants and they'd like to continue the leases on a yearly basis and be provided with flexibility to renegotiate as the situation dictates.