The Tsawwassen Springs development could get a bit bigger.
Shato Holdings owner Ron Toigo has purchased an adjacent property at 4800 Springs Boulevard with the intent of taking most of it out of the Agricultural Land Reserve to build 60 townhomes.
The 2.5-hectare (6.3-acre) parcel was owned by another individual when the original Tsawwassen Springs application was put forward a few years ago and that other owner wasn’t interested in selling at the time.
Developed by Talisman Homes and Shato Holdings, Tsawwassen Springs will include almost 500 housing units, from condos to single-family homes, when all phases are completed in 2018. The project also features an 18-hole golf course, banquet facilities, Pat Quinn’s Restaurant & Bar and other amenities.
The proposal for the adjacent property at the west end of Tsawwassen Springs would see townhomes built on two-thirds of the site, which would have to be pulled out of the ALR, while the remainder of the parcel would remain in the land reserve and become part of the golf course.
Although in the ALR, the property has private recreation zoning and wasn’t being farmed when it was purchased.
Delta deputy planning director Marcy Sangret said the proposal was submitted this summer and Delta council gave the go ahead to proceed to civic advisory committees and public consultation, which included an information meeting last month.
The application still has to go back to council for preliminary approval consideration, which, if successful, would be followed by a public hearing. Only after it gets past those hurdles can the application be submitted to the Agricultural Land Commission. The application also requires Metro Vancouver approval.
As far as the applicant providing compensation for excluding land from the ALR, Sangret it’s not part of the application.
“When the original Tsawwassen Springs master plan was before council, the applicant at that time provided land inclusion in the ALR. They did a number of things that they proposed as compensation. They also provided funding for wildlife habitat. So this lot was always considered to be, at some point in the future, something where an application would come forward,” she said.
At an agricultural advisory committee meeting last month, Toigo, accompanied by representatives from Talisman Homes, an architect and an agrologist, provided an overview of the compensation provided in the original Tsawwassen Springs proposal. The committee was told the subject property was part of the original plan and the compensation measures provided in the application would have included the parcel if it had been purchased at that time.
Agrologist Brian French told the committee a soil inspection of the site and surrounding lands found the subject area was used extensively for depositing fill. It was also noted the soil is not arable and, given the site’s isolated location and history, it “would be impossible to farm.”
Also at the meeting, Dieter Geesing, a regional agrolosist with the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture, said his conclusion was that the land is fertile, it could be used for greenhouses and was capable of agricultural production.
The committee expressed support for the project, noting the site’s location doesn’t make it feasible to farm, but also expressed concern about losing ALR land.
A community garden is also proposed as part of the development, which abuts land owned by the Tsawwassen First Nation where townhomes will also be developed.
