Policies to establish, implement, and review an Urban Containment Boundary must be set out in a Regional Growth Strategy and Official Community Plan. It is important to ensure that Zoning bylaws reflect the desired land use both within and outside the UCB. Local governments can create minimum lot sizes to retain rural character and prevent urbanization outside the UCB and should strategically zone areas inside the UCB to encourage compact and complete development.
Several Regions and Municipalities have created Urban Containment Boundaries as a part of their growth management strategies: Saanich, Kelowna, and Nanaimo are three examples.
It should be noted that an Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), a land use policy designed to protect quality agricultural land, should not be confused with an Urban Containment Boundary. [1]
Sources
[1] Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, 2006, Planning for Food Seminar, British Columbia’s Agricultural Land Preservation Program, http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/resmgmt/sf/plan_food/Presentations/2_b_Hall.pdf