I get the feeling Metro Vancouver will end up approving the Southlands development, but what it has to say on the matter could well be a moot point.
Metro's planning and agriculture committee reviewed the proposal last month and just last Friday the Metro board of directors gave it preliminary approval. Richmond Coun. Harold Steves was the only committee member opposed to sending the application to the board and then as a board director, he was the only one to vote against granting it preliminary approval.
I guess the upcoming public hearing could change some minds, but as it stands now regional politicians appear amenable to amending the Regional Growth Strategy in order to allow the Century Group project to proceed.
Should they have a change of heart and reject the proposal that received the blessing of Delta council last fall, then I've got think that a recent B.C. Supreme Court ruling could come into play. Last month a judge ruled that Metro Vancouver doesn't have the authority to dictate land use within individual municipalities in regards to a bid by Langley Township to rezone agricultural land for housing near Trinity Western University.
That's obviously a specific ruling on a specific case, but if I understand the judgment correctly, it appears it would take a significant proposal, one that would alter the character of the Green Zone and the municipality in question, for Metro Vancouver's say to hold any water.
The Southlands proposal is certainly much larger than the Langley example, but I'm not so sure it possesses those character-altering properties that would trigger regional involvement.
The idea of a solitary farm almost surrounded by housing is surely a planning anomaly, but if anything, the Century proposal ensures this peculiar arrangement continues in perpetuity by handing over 80 per cent of the site to the municipality, which has offered to apply to put that portion of the site in the Agricultural Land Reserve.
Sure, the proposal adds a sizable housing component to the mix through the other 20 per cent, but at the end of the day will the character of post-Southlands development Tsawwassen be materially different from what it is today?
Heck, you could argue the $9 million slated to be invested in drainage and irrigation to facilitate much more soilbased farming on the land would actually increase the agricultural character of not only the property but also the wider community.
