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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • DECEMBER 2018
Landowners see development as only solution Albion lands with drainage problems stay unproductive until Maple Ridge council acts
by RONDA PAYNE
MAPLE RIDGE – In early October, a pair of Maple Ridge farmland owners hoped council would support an application to the Agricultural Land Commission that would see 61 acres removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve for development as an industrial park. The tract on the Albion flats includes 41 acres owned by brothers John and Steve Wynnyk, whose family has raised beef and crops in the area since the 1940s. Twenty acres is owned by the Ducharme family, which doesn’t farm. Sherry Gordon of YourLand
Development & Research Solutions in Surrey says drainage issues have prevented the land from supporting agricultural uses since 1981, following extensive residential development north of the site. Gordon has worked with the
Wynnyks since 2012 and was involved in a previous exclusion application the ALC rejected in 2013. She says both the ALC and the city recognize the issues associated with the site. The land commission has consistently defined the site as agriculturally viable in spite of flooding issues and unusually high chromium levels. Yet the commission has also stated that it’s open to development of the portion of the site south of Jim Robson Way (formerly
105th Avenue), as long as the 61 acres on the north side is made fit to farm. “They have been unable to use those lands in many years,” Gordon told Maple Ridge council in October. “The two properties are the very lowest in the watershed.” Steve Wynnyk noted the land once yielded three high-quality forage crops a year. By 2013, that was reduced to one crop of low quality hay. Now, the land is no longer viable, according to Gordon. Maple Ridge acknowledged the need to deal with drainage issues in 2013 but has taken no action to date. Both parties have estimated the cost of improvements at $10 million. “They started to make rather more
has said over and over and over that they will not support development on those properties. It has to be used for agricultural purposes,” she said. Maple Ridge identified the area as a priority for city planners in 2017, but
“This losing money every year is not acceptable.”
informal comments, that, ‘You know it’s time we did something about it; we are responsible for it,’” Gordon said. “They have a commitment to the Agricultural Land Commission to do the drainage because they can’t move forward with any other development … until they have complied with that condition.” Councillor Kiersten Duncan was the only council member to vote against deferring the issue, stating there was no point in supporting an application to the ALC. “The Agricultural Land Commission
Duncan says she doesn’t support an exclusion application for the northern portion of the site due to a number of environmental concerns including the potential for soil liquefaction in an earthquake. “The onus is on us to fix the drainage and we’ve got to get to it,” noted councillor Craig Speirs in October, who lost a bid to become mayor and no longer sits on council. “In my opinion, we need to make
sure we fix the drainage issue so we can make it agriculturally viable,” says Duncan. “It’s good soil. I know they [the Wynnyks] say it’s not.” City staff expect to have a draft
area plan ready for council’s review in early 2019. It will address drainage. Duncan notes that any discussion of the Wynnyk and Ducharme properties
SHERRY GORDON YOURLAND DEVELOPMENT & RESEARCH SOLUTIONS
by the new council will not occur until after council receives the area plan. “I think that’s something they will discuss at the time,” Gordon says. “We have asked to be included in discussions but we know nothing more than what we found out at the meeting. Generally, a review of that nature would not be something that would happen quickly. This losing money every year is not acceptable.” Due to the
upcoming municipal election and staff work on the area plan, Maple Ridge council left a decision on the application to a new council. This has left the owners wondering what, if anything, will be done. Gordon says the Wynnyks and Ducharmes deserve answers. They shouldn’t have to wait another 20 years “or never” to know what will happen. Steve Wynnyk believes the new council will support the proposal, which could include businesses like Costco, cabinet shops or other light industrial options. However, the ground would have to be raised about five feet or more to build. He and his brother still grow good crops on their land in Mission, where they raise about 1,500 cattle a year.
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