It’s been a long process but the MK Delta Lands industrial development adjacent to Burns Bog has taken another step toward reality.
The Metro Vancouver board recently granted first and second readings to a land use designation change from agricultural to industrial and referred the proposal to member municipalities for comment. Municipalities have until Sept. 6 to provide comment.
A recent letter by Metro chair Sav Dhaliwal to Delta mayor and council notes the regional district will then review all comments before considering final approval. A public hearing is not required.
The district’s regional planning committee this spring approved sending the application to the board of directors.
“The addition of the subject property to the regional industrial lands inventory would provide an additional 43.8 hectares (108.2 acres) of industrial land, which would be of local and regional benefit from an industrial-activity, goods movement and employment generating perspective,” a staff report at the time stated.
The development plan for the site west of Highway 91 near Nordel Way includes 2.2 million square feet of industrial space.
Delta council granted conditional approval following a public hearing three years ago but final approval was pending a number of conditions being met.
The plan also includes the transfer of all of MK Delta’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.
Council last fall agreed to extend its deadline for final approval in order to give additional time for the company to get Metro Vancouver approvals.
The Burns Bog Conservation Society continues to lobby against the development as well as a separate industrial development at the Pineland Peat site, also adjacent to the bog, planned by the Beedie Development Group.
