Dear Editor,
It is high time that the provincial government look at ways to protect the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) after years of mismanagement and lack of regulations by the previous government.
Making the foreign buyers tax applicable to the ALR is very important, but that is not all that needs to be done.
Runaway ALR land values are due to the monster homes that are being allowed to be built on agricultural land, something being done increasingly by locals.
Plunking a multi-million-dollar home on agricultural land instantly skyrockets farmland out of the reach of farmers and reduces the potential for farming.
These monster homes encroach on fertile soil with their pools, tennis courts and multi-car garages in addition to their monstrous square footage.
Instead of a ban of foreign land ownership, which seems to often incite racially-charged debates, the most important thing we can do is keep farmland farmable and accessible.
That means restricting monster homes on agricultural land, adhering to B.C.’s Ministry of Agriculture guidelines on home size, which would be in line with average home sizes across the rest of Richmond.
If the province doesn’t do it, Richmond council needs to be farmland champions and reverse their previous decision to keep allowing monsters to be built. Ten-thousand square feet isn’t a home, it’s a monster eating up our farmland.
Michelle Li
Richmond
