10 LAST HARVEST


COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • NOVEMBER 2016 FROM PAGE 9


Panel appointed to scrutinize the project, agriculture in the valley generates just $220,000 a year. Those who do farm along the Peace enjoy long daylight hours in the summer, rich alluvial soils and warmer temperatures than farms at higher elevations around Dawson Creek and Fort St John.


Around 30 residents of the valley will be directly affected by Site C according to BC Hydro, either by highway realignment or the flooding itself. Of those, ten will likely have to move from their homes or rebuild them elsewhere on the property. BC Hydro says it will pay “fair market value” for the land – a concept which Ken says is practically non-existent in an area that has, for decades, been set aside for a reservoir.


Keeping up the fight


Ken Boon walks past an archaeological site on his property, part of mitigation work for the Site C dam. (Jonny Wakefield/Alaska Highway News photo)


The Boons are intent on keeping up the fight against the dam. They say it’s an unnecessary, outdated mega-project that will destroy good farmland and infringe on First Nations treaty rights. BC Hydro, meanwhile, says its electricity system will face an eight per cent shortfall in capacity in ten years without Site C.


Whenever the prospect of BC Hydro’s buyout comes up, Ken talks about buy-back clauses if a court case or change in government derails the project. He says he hopes he’ll never see a cent of the money.


But the first summer of work on their farm has already taken a toll. Arlene’s mother, who lived in a converted school house on the property, recently moved to an apartment in Fort St John to escape construction.


If the Boons are forced from the property, they have options to stay in the valley on other family land. But if the river they love becomes a reservoir, would they want to? “Every direction you look here, these hills are anticipated to slide (into the river)," Ken says. “We won’t know for many years what this valley is going to look like. It might be just a real ugly sloughed-in slough. So we’re being expected to make decisions now without knowledge of what it will look like. Would we really want to stay in the valley?”


BE READY.


Jonny Wakefield is a reporter for the Alaska Highway News and Dawson Creek Mirror.


SANDOWN


Raceway redevelopment project. When the owners of the 96-acre parcel


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opened discussions about development options for the land, the district negotiated an agreement that will see 12 acres removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve for commercial development and the remaining 84 acres returned to the community for agricultural use.


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“Often, redevelopment is about maximizing the highest and best use of the land,” explains Rob Buchan, chief administrative officer for the District of North Saanich, who was the lead planner on the project at the time. “Going back to agriculture is counter to that general trend.” The award recognized the efforts of the District of North Saanich to including farmers in their planning process for the Sandown lands project and the resulting commitment to develop agriculture resources on the majority of the original area.


In order to develop a shared FROM PAGE 6


vision for the future of the site, the district enlisted the assistance of the Capital Regional Food and Agriculture Initiative Roundtable (CR-FAIR) to host a series of community outreach events and ensure the input from the hundreds of participants in the process contributes to determining the future agricultural uses of the site and enhancing agricultural opportunities in the district.


Work on the Sandown redevelopment project is still in process. The land owners have recently submitted their development applications and work remains to be done to return the land to agricultural production but, with the community fully behind the project and the recognition of the work, Buchan is hopeful as the project moves forward. “It’s a very positive thing to be recognized for doing something well,” he says. “It’s meaningful to the community, and is nice to have an outside organization and peers say this is award-worthy.”


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