Provincial New Democrats are applauding the move by Delta council to have the controversial Southlands property in Tsawwassen placed back in the Agricultural Land Reserve.

Council this week unanimously approved sending the recommendations for a new area plan, written by CAO George Harvie, to a March 1 public hearing. The most surprising proposal is to apply to the Agricultural Land Commission to have the 538-acre Southlands put back in the ALR. The Southlands is zoned agricultural and in the regional district's Green Zone.

Supporting the move, the NDP say a growing population and a growing appetite for local food are both good reasons to return the Southlands to the ALR.

A recent auditor general's report shows that under the B.C. Liberals, the amount of land in the ALR on the south coast has declined by eight per cent despite the region's growing population and growing interest in local food, according to the NDP.

"After a decade of B.C. Liberal mismanagement of the Agricultural Land Reserve, the Lower Mainland now has less agricultural land to feed more people," said New Democrat agriculture critic Lana Popham. "The Southlands is key to building our agriculture industry in the Lower Mainland and meeting the demands of a growing population that's increasingly hungry for local food."

Delta North MLA Guy Gentner said, "The Southlands have great farming capability. Returning the Southlands to the ALR would be a good first step towards reversing the loss of farmland that has happened under the B.C. Liberals."

The move by council will once again bring up the debate about the viability of soil-based farming on the property that has had a long history of controversy, but this time it would be the ALC that will make a determination.

Formerly called the Spetifore land when farmer George Spetifore owned it, the property was removed amid much controversy from the ALR in 1981. The request was put forward by Delta council and the Greater Vancouver Regional District.

The Social Credit government issued the cabinet decision overruling the ALC at the time. Out of more than 8,200 acres of land in B.C. pulled out of the ALR during that period, the commission opposed only Spetifore's parcel, the Optimist reported at the time.

In an interview in 1981, Spetifore cited several reasons for the exclusion, including poor soil quality. He said the land was classified by the ALC in the lower soil ratings and he also pointed out the property was in a salt area built up from the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

A report by agrobiologist Norman Putnam, hired by Spetifore, noted "extensive drainage and irrigation facilities would have to be added" before the land was viable for farming.

However, a report by Marshall A. Cronkhite in 1989, during the highly contentious TDL housing proposal for the property, stated tests "show a viable economic farm unit could be developed on the property."

In the early '90s, the NDP government declined Delta council's request to put the Southlands back in the ALR. The Delta Farmers' Institute at the time voiced opposition to council's request, arguing the land wasn't suitable for farming.

In a letter this week to council, Century Group president Sean Hodgins contended Harvie's suggestion staff investigate and report back on options for improved irrigation and drainage was made without noting the fact Delta has had two decades to fix the dumping of storm water from upper Tsawwassen through the Southlands, but nothing was done.

"We welcome having staff investigate and report back, as a basis for further discussion about agricultural viability in general, although I suspect that the results will not change anything, given the millions of dollars that anything but superficial improvements would require," he said.

It remains to be seen if the land commission would accept all of the property or only part of it for the ALR, leaving more question marks about the future of whatever could be left over.