To Mayor Brodie and Richmond Council,
Please do the right thing and limit house size (and “home plate” size) in our agricultural lands as soon as possible.
If we consider the recommended house-size guidelines of the Agricultural Land Commission and the restrictions imposed by our neighbouring cities and municipalities (as quoted in the March 10 issue of the Richmond News) we could easily impose a limit of, for example, 7,500 square-feet for the main home and 3,000 square-feet for the secondary home and still have the most generous house size limit in the region.
I understand this is the second or third time in recent years council has considered the issue, only to back down and do nothing. This is very likely your last chance to value the legacy of our farming past and protect farmland for future generations.
Applications for mega-homes are flooding in to the city’s building department as builders and realtors fear Richmond council might finally take action.
If we wait another five years, every farm parcel will be built out with bloated, hotel-sized “homes” which will never be practical for a single family and farmland prices will continue to skyrocket beyond the budget of anyone but the multi-millionaire. Farmland should be valued on agricultural use, not residential use. Yet because of the mega-home phenomenon this land sells for close to $1 million per acre. There is a strong interest in organic farming and small-crop, specialty farming across North America, but even our beautiful, fertile soil tempts very few to try their hand here because land prices are astronomical. Young farmers don’t stand a chance.
I attended the Feb. 7 planning committee meeting and heard Coun. Bill McNulty decry the ALC for leaving house-size regulations up to individual municipalities. But making decisions, sir, is your job. We elected you, and everyone on council, to make these difficult decisions and to make them for the good of the greater community at present and for generations to come. The ALR has given some very reasonable recommendations and left the fine-tuning up to you. Delta, Port Coquitlam, Maple Ridge and Surrey have all seen fit to limit house-size, home-plate size or both. I understand Pitt Meadows is in the process of doing the same.
The argument that farmers need massive homes because they are barely scraping by and must house multiple generations under one roof is a deflection of the issue. Palatial mansions with grand fountains, turrets, theatres, and the like are not houses built by people who are barely scraping by. These arguments are being trotted out in order to cloud the decision-making process with cultural issues.
Please decide in favour of responsible stewardship and our future ability to farm locally and sustainably. Your decisions will be your legacy.
Leeanna Jalbert
Richmond
