Yesterday's home runs can't be used for today's games.
That was the argument from councillors Heather King and Jeannie Kanakos, who voted against a move by their Delta council colleagues to include the Southlands as part of agricultural land compensation for the separate MK Delta Lands development.
Council held a special meeting last Thursday morning to discuss a recommendation by CAO George Harvie to submit a letter to the Agricultural Land Commission requesting the inclusion of 111.5 hectares (276 acres) of higher quality farmland at the Southlands in the Agricultural Land Reserve be recognized as compensation for lower capability lands that are under consideration for exclusion by MK Delta Lands.
"I really like the analogy of not counting on the homes runs of the past because that sums up how I view this proposal," said Kanakos. "That (Southlands) is a package. That amenity, or that benefit to our own constituents and residents of Delta, is a package in and of itself. To say we're now going to use this to support applications where agricultural land is being taken out of the ALR is a form of double-dipping."
King agreed, saying she's concerned Delta would go back to the Southlands as a form of credit in order to allow other developers to exclude more farmland in the future.
The Southlands development in Tsawwassen, which received final approval last year, involves the transfer of 80 per cent of the property from the Century Group to Delta for future agricultural uses, while the 20 per cent of the site with reportedly the poorest soil quality is to be developed for housing. The land, which is not in the Agricultural Land Reserve, has since been transferred to Delta and the municipality made an application to the ALC to place it in the ALR. Century Group will also provide $9 million of irrigation and drainage improvements for the land it transferred.
Last year also saw council approve the MK Delta Lands application, which would see industrial development occur on a 62.7-hectare (155-acre) parcel adjacent to the South Fraser Perimeter Road and Burns Bog. Even though that land is in the ALR, Delta maintains the quality of the soil is poor and not farmable and, in fact, it's never been farmed.
An application has been made to exclude the property from the ALR and that approval is needed before final approval can be granted.
MK Delta Lands also proposes to transfer several parcels totaling 132.7 hectares (328 acres) to Delta. Not all of it is in the ALR but the plan is to include everything in the reserve as well. However, those parcels, which are also reportedly not farmable, would be added to the bog's conservation area.
MK Delta Lands also committed $6 million for irrigation for Westham Island farms, something it wants the ALC to take into consideration.
Meanwhile, in order to address the concern of some local farmers who didn't like the idea of ALR land being placed into a conservancy zone and not being farmed, Delta agreed to lease 71 hectares (175 acres) of municipallyowned land south of the Vancouver Landfill, which had originally been intended to be added to the Burns Bog Ecological Conservation Area, for farming. Because it's already in the ALR, it isn't viewed as compensation by the ALC.
Harvie told council that following a presentation to the ALC panel on the MK Delta Lands application, the panel asked for more information on the exclusion and compensation. It was clear there was a "gap" in the application in that the panel was not aware just how much farmland Delta is adding to the ALR, land that will actually be used for farming and not just "a paper exercise." Coun. Ian Paton said there's no double-dipping, adding the Southlands plan is moving ahead regardless of what happens at the MK Delta site.
Mayor Lois Jackson said simply swapping land doesn't mean agriculture will benefit, noting the ALC has allowed good quality farmland in the ALR to be swapped for poor lands elsewhere in the province, which isn't the case in Delta.
"I think we have to take great care in comparing home run to home run. You cannot compare the land we're looking at with MK with what we've got at Southlands," she said.
Council voted in favour of the recommendation with King and Kanakos the only ones opposed.
The MK Delta Lands application also requires Metro Vancouver approval.
