The Burns Bog Conservation Society launched a petition asking the federal government to halt the MK Delta Lands and Pineland Peat development plans.
The society is citing the Species at Risk Act.
“The federal government set the precedent by stopping land development in La Prairie, Quebec. The Western Chorus frog (Pseudacris Triseriata) was at risk. This little frog is so small it can fit on your index finger,” stated Eliza Olson, president of the society, in a news release.
“The federal government issued the order June 17, 2016. It effectively cut the planned development by 171 units. There is more than one endangered species living on MK Delta Land Group’s land and Pineland Peat. And it’s time they were protected,” commented Olson.
The MK Delta Lands development moved a step closer to reality this summer following the Agricultural Land Commission’s approval. The company is seeking a development on a site adjacent to the bog, west of Highway 91, where 2.2 million square feet of industrial space would be developed on the 62-hectare (155-acre) parcel near Nordel Way. MK Delta Lands says the site is ideally located for logistics or distribution centres. The proposal also includes transferring all the company's other land holdings, which total 132.7 hectares (328 acres), to the City of Delta for conservation, including land east of Highway 91 where the company had originally sought to build housing.
Meanwhile, an application is working its way through Delta to develop the 66-hectare (163-acre) Pineland Peat site on 88th Avenue into an industrial park.
The plan would see the property rezoned from peat extraction to heavy industrial. The number of lots and lot dimensions are still to be determined.
According to Delta, design guidelines have to be prepared to address appropriate environmental buffers as well as site and building design criteria that reflect the location of the project in proximity to the Burns Bog Ecological Conservancy Area and farmland.
