Port Metro Vancouver has wrapped up the initial phase in its update of its land use plan.
The port authority has embarked on a two-year process to update the plan, starting with a series of stakeholder workshops that were held in April and May.
More than 180 people representing government, industry and community organizations attended the sessions, including APE.
A summary report by Port Metro Vancouver notes that many participants commented that the port should use its current land base efficiently and optimally before seeking to acquire new land. Stakeholders also questioned the need for the port to grow and suggested that non-port use of port lands be reduced to minimize the amount of land acquisition required.
The report also notes there was discussion of a perceived need to increase the efficiency of the whole goods movement system, as well as increase the intensity of port-related land use. Several participants also commented on the conflicting needs of industrial, residential, and agricultural land uses.
"Other comments expressed that the Port should not be allowed to purchase land that is in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), or only purchase it when all other options have been exhausted,"
Some stakeholders also suggested ways to make port use of agricultural land more acceptable, including incorporating urban farms into the industrial use of the land and allowing "clean" industries on the land, so that the land could be returned to agricultural use in the future.
If agricultural land must be used for industrial purposes, the least productive land should be selected, the report notes, adding that some participants suggested that the ALR boundaries should be reviewed to make sure that all land in the farm reserve is worth farming.
Roger Emsley with Against Port Expansion (APE) attended some of the port authority's stakeholder workshops, concerned not enough consideration will be
given to alternatives to developing Delta farmlands for port-related uses.
"I'm not one of these people who say all trade is bad and we shouldn't have a port out here. What I want to see is Port Metro Vancouver maximize the footprint of what's out here, work with (port of) Prince Rupert and change the infrastructure model, so that they're not relying on road movement to and from the port," Emsley told the Optimist.
"The important thing now is going to be the next sessions in the fall, when we'll get to see just how the port is going to react to all the comments that were made," he said.
Emsley said that while there was some good discussion during the workshops, the most important idea that should have had more conversation was the need to examine alternative locations outside the Lower Mainland, including expanding the port in Prince Rupert and the proposed inland port in Ashcroft. Such alternatives should be examined in greater detail before any changes to land designation in the Lower Mainland are considered, he said.
"In some respects, I was quite pleased to hear a number of comments sug-gesting the port has got to do much more to respect communities and respect the environment, and questioning whether they should be continuing to expand in areas such as Roberts Bank," Emsley said.
Emsley noted his group supports the Ashcroft terminal project.
He also pointed to a 2008 federal panel's suggestion that one way to handle portrelated expansion is through the development of inland terminals.
"During the (workshop) discussions there were a number of people who said, 'Why aren't you cooperating more with Prince Rupert?' They're trying to do the same things you are and have a very good infrastructure," said Emsley.
"I've said it at the workshops, and before, that the current infrastructure model that relies extensively on road movement to serve the port is broken. You can't keep just adding trucks and moving between port prop-erties and building more distribution centres and intermodel yards. One of the solutions to that is the kind of inland terminal (by rail) that Ashcroft is proposing," he added.
Delta council recently renewed a call for the government to give serious consideration to the proposal to build an inland container terminal at Ashcroft.
Andy Anderson, the mayor of that community, recently thanked Delta for its support.
