A 6.5-metre steel sculpture along the Fraser River at the end of Cambie Road will stay in place after city council voted 7-2 in favour of allowing a developer to donate the artwork as is.
After much discussion at the committee level, only councillors Bill McNulty and Harold Steves ended up voting against the proposal. McNulty wanted a cash donation while Steves preferred it on the development site, as he dislikes the art.
Oris Development (River Drive) Corp. bought the art, dubbed Water #10, from the Vancouver Biennale for $400,000 plus tax. After developing Parc Riviera at the north end of No. 4 Road, it was asked to donate $575,000 worth of public art to the city, per city policy, which stipulates developers can choose to contribute cash (based on the size of the development) or place equivalent art on their site.
City of Richmond art planners had previously agreed with the recommendation by Oris to keep the art on the middle arm.
Garden City Lands trail awaits
The City of Richmond is planning to start building a perimeter trail around the Garden City Lands in August.
However, Coun. Harold Steves said he was concerned and surprised to hear that the trail would require an application to the Agricultural Land Commission as it may constitute a non-farm use.
Steves has been adamant that the trail act as a farm road thus, not requiring an ALC application.
About half of the 136-acre site will remain a bog while the other half will include a farmhouse, passive recreational fields, as well as a plan to lend 20 acres of reclaimed farmland for Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s agriculture program.
The Garden City Conservation Society requested much of the bog be preserved. As such, the city is conducting hydrology studies to properly manage water flow on the land. Raised walking trails are planned in and around the park.
Mylora West work started
The owner of the former Mylora West golf course is planning to start remediation work on the now-abandoned property, meaning several large, mature trees will be felled to make way for a farm field.
Because the property is in the Agricultural Land Reserve and falls under the No. 5 Road Backlands policy, the owner must farm the back two-thirds of it, should it be redeveloped, as planned.
Consultants for the property told city councillors at a planning committee meeting March 30 that they were concerned residents would not understand the work being done on the land.
As it is a 30-acre rectangular site, the front 10 acres will be developed under the “institutional” zoning, however it’s unclear what exactly will be built, as the development proposal has not been made publicly available (it will be presented to the committee next month).
The consultants noted once the back 20 acres is converted into farmland, the land will be transferred to the city for it to be farmed, per the backlands policy.
The decades-old course sold for $7 million to Second Sun Realty Fund Ltd. in 2013, according to Lawrence Lim, president of Mayfair Commercial, which brokered the deal.
