SEPTEMBER 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
15 Delta land swap yields benefits for local farmers
Regional approval needed before the cash flows by PETER MITHAM
DELTA – Delta farmers have long sought compensation for the pressure industrial development places on local farms. Now, an innovative proposal by MK Delta Lands Group Ltd. that’s won approval from the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) promises to deliver just that. Commissioners with the South
Coast panel unanimously gave their conditional approval to the exclusion of 155 acres for development of a new industrial park. The lands lie to the north of Burns Bog and adjacent to the existing Nordel Business Park. “[The site] is an ideal location for an industrial park due to: its proximity to the South Fraser Perimeter Road; the Roberts Bank container terminal; industrial docks and facilities along the Fraser River; and the United States border,” the application states. MK Delta Lands, in turn, will give 192 acres to
In addition to protecting an additional 37 acres within the ALR, the arrangement will see MK Delta Lands contribute $11 million to various infrastructure projects in Delta, the largest of which are irrigation improvements on Westham Island. The improvements include two new pump stations on Westham Island, which MK Delta Lands says will ensure boost access to irrigation water on Westham Island and improve agricultural productivity. It will also address the effects of climate change, particularly rising salinity at the mouth of the Fraser as the region faces lower summer stream flows and higher ocean levels. “Upgrading existing inlets,
Westham Island farmers will have increased access to irrigation. BLACKKNIGHT PHOTO
properties and adjacent uses. “Where the development is proposed is on the
already-industrialized area at the north end,” she said.
Delta for inclusion in both the Agricultural Land Reserve and the Burns Bog Ecological Conservancy Area. Any conservation covenant placed on the lands cannot limit agricultural uses. Delta Mayor Lois Jackson characterized the arrangement as a tweaking of the boundaries of the reserve to reflect both the condition of the
The property slated for industrial development has also seen greater peat extraction than the property proposed for inclusion in the ALR. Delta council approved the arrangement prior to it going to the ALC last summer for consideration. It now goes to Metro Vancouver, which must approve any adjustment to the boundaries of the region’s green zone.
extracting Fraser River water from further upstream, and providing a new irrigation water river crossing from a pump station at the Mason canal to Westham Island will increase agricultural productivity,” a rationale for the project explains. ALC commissioners
acknowledged the pledge but said it was ancillary to their consideration of the exclusion application. MK Delta Lands’ swap follows an earlier arrangement that saw Century Group agree to give 428 acres of its Southlands property in Tsawwassen to Delta. The entire site totals 535 acres and ranks among the largest single tracts of farmland in the Lower Mainland lying outside the ALR. The lands Delta received were destined for inclusion in the ALR but Jackson said several details associated with the application have yet to be finalized.
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