Mega homes on farmland in Richmond could be a thing of the past, if city council approves proposals to seriously curtail residential development on the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR).
Councillors were expected, on Wednesday afternoon, to consider restricting the size of residences on Richmond’s ALR to 5,382 square-feet. Also, if city staff’s recommendations are to be followed, the square footage of an accessory, residential building on the property would be limited to a maximum of 753 square feet.
Even if the proposed bylaw amendments — which form part of a long-awaited move by city council to deal with growing concern over the proliferation of mega mansions on the ALR — are approved this week, they still need to be considered at a public hearing, possibly in May.
City staff are also recommending formulating a “rezoning approach” for any proponents who wish to build beyond the proposed size limits for the residence.
Last month, a near unanimous Richmond city council placed a moratorium on building permit applications for houses on protected farmland, following a recent flood of such applications to build large houses on the ALR.
Coun. Alexa Loo opposed the moratorium, saying she thought it was “heavy-handed.”
In January, when council began a public consultation process on restricting home sizes on farmland, Couns. Carol Day and Harold Steves called for a moratorium, fearing a rush of development. Since then, there has, indeed, been a deluge, with the average size of application at almost 13,000 square-feet - one proponent asked for 32,660 square-feet.
Until now, Richmond was one of the few Metro Vancouver municipalities not to have any kind of effective restriction on the size of residences on farmland.
In preparing the aforementioned proposals, city staff said it consulted the provincial Ministry of Agriculture’s guidelines, which recommend that residential development be commensurate with the same development in urban areas in Richmond’s single-detached home zones.
According to this week’s report, development variance permits could be issued to proponents in terms of either the main or secondary residential buildings, as long as the sum total doesn’t exceed the limit.
Leading up to this week’s proposals, a total of 679 surveys were received by the city. A significant majority (74.1 per cent) wanted size limitations on the principal farmland home, while, according to the report, farmers and ALR residents were “less supportive.”
