Whereas municipal use of crown land is often essential to the provision of important municipal services; And whereas the lengthy application process for nominal rent tenures and sponsored crown grants impacts municipalities ability to provide these services: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request that the Province increase funding to reduce application wait times and improve the application process for sponsored crown grants and nominal rent tenures.
Ministry of Forests Crown land tenure application processing is designed to be timely and occur generally within 140 business days from application acceptance to tenure offer. Nominal rent tenures with foregone rent above Treasury Board established thresholds require additional process steps as outside ministries are required for financial support and approvals. Sponsored Crown grants require Cabinet approval as the Province is permanently transferring an asset for no financial return. In the past three years significant work has been completed to standardize the Crown land application process and improve application processing time. Additional resource requests have also been approved and application processing time should improve in future as a result. As sponsored Crown grants are fee simple transfers from the Province to private owners, significant consultation is conducted with Indigenous Nations who in many cases are hesitant to support the alienation of lands within their traditional territories.