The provincial government is proposing to widen Highway 99 at the expense of designated farmland, according to a City of Richmond planning report.
The city learned of the proposal by speaking to property owners (mostly places of worship or education) on No. 5 Road this summer.
The widening — from Blundell Road to Steveston Highway — would complement a planned 10-lane bridge that will replace the George Massey Tunnel.
Although much of the land — known as the No. 5 Road backlands — is not presently being farmed, Richmond city council, via a committee meeting, will be sending a letter to the Minister of Transportation and provincial Agricultural Land Commission to voice its concerns, as it maintains it wants to preserve farmland.
In the report, the city maintains the province continues to leave it in the dark when it comes to the bridge’s planning process.
Port jobs over farmland: Clark
Meanwhile, the City of Richmond’s demand that Port Metro Vancouver lay off any plans to develop farmland stirred the pot in B.C.’s Legislature on Oct. 1.
After NDP agriculture critic Lana Popham asked Minister of Agriculture Norm Letnick what the provincial government was doing to protect Richmond’s farmland from port development, and Letnick replied that the federal government is expected to comply to the provincial Agricultural Land Commission, Premier Christy Clark interjected by stating she was “happy to speak to, really, what the core of the member’s (Popham) question is all about.”
“She stands up. She wants to protect the land from trees. Then the next person stands up. They want to protect the trees from loggers. Now what we find out is they want to protect British Columbians, wherever they live across this province, from jobs,” said Clark.
