Dear Editor,
Jan. 9 marks the fifth anniversary of the protest against dumping on farmland at 9360 Finn Road. The News covered the beginning of that story well, but you never told its ending:
• Dumping of “fill” stopped shortly into 2013, without explanation.
• For the last two summers, the fields have been farmed (except the “filled” area of the farm road), though an agrologist had stated that the fields could not produce without “fill”.
• Last fall there was a massive soil cleanup, removing all the dumped “fill” and screening the soil. Again, no explanation (the City remained mum), although by some estimates the cleanup cost someone $500,000.
So it seemed the farmers and protesters were right all along.
Your #1 story for 2017 was “Farm mega mansions,” on how council went against Ministry of Agriculture guidelines to permit mansions on farmland—and the protest over that.
Both the 2013 and the 2017 stories describe governments allowing mistreatment of farmland. I hope you will continue reporting on the mega mansion story, right through to the end.
And here’s hoping for a good ending.
Steve Bridger
RICHMOND
