Dear Editor,
The B.C. Ministry of Agriculture’s Guide to Bylaw Development in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) is clear about the biggest threat to farmland. It is residential encroachment. To reduce the threat, the guide says to divert urban housing to non-farming areas.
The guide also instructs local governments to succeed by calculating a house-size limit on ALR farmland to be no larger than the house-size limits in residential neighbourhoods.
Richmond staff, applying land use economics, calculated that limits as low as 300 square metres would address the threat to our farmland successfully while not harming the equity in farmer’s existing properties. (As a precaution, the B.C. guide sets an absolute upper limit of 500 square metres, but it would be a mistake to call that the guideline.).
Richmond council ignored all of this. They merely granted the wish of vocal ALR landholders and their hangers-on. They allowed mansions of up to 1,000 square metres.
Since this council decision in May, the asking price of ALR farmland in Richmond has soared to heights of $3.73 million per acre, based on recent listings.
This continued loss of farmland is the result of no foreign buyer tax on ALR, reduced taxes due to farm status, and a Richmond council allowing houses three times the size of residential house limits.
It is not too late to cancel the welcome.
Laura Gillanders
Richmond
