It is election season and in the City of Richmond the spin has started. Under the banner “Richmond First” Richmond councillors Dang, McNulty and McPhail who voted for allowing mega mansions of nearly 11,000 square feet on the most fertile and important farmland in Canada are campaigning to get back on Richmond Council.
And they have added a weird twist. They are not saying that they have given in to developer pressure and have approved the creation of the tax loopholed offshore owned gated estates on Class 1 supposedly Provincially protected agricultural lands. Nor are they saying anything about the innovative “get rich quick” scheme of buying land at agricultural land prices and morphing it into exclusive multi-million dollar estates with the associated land lift. They also have conveniently forgotten that the Province has mandated that the maximum size of houses on farmland is 5,832 square feet, specifically to stop speculation.
Ads in the Richmond Sentinel state that Dang, McNulty and McPhail are running on a platform that includes “Protecting Richmond’s farmland and supporting local food production“. These are the same councillors that decided a main house of 11,000 square feet on large farmland properties was not enough house, and also approved an additional 3,200 square foot house on the same property for the “help”.
Price Tags Vancouver has reported that the Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham will be introducing regulation to stop Richmond Council’s flagrant disregard for the future of the Agricultural Land Reserve.
The Richmond Citizens’ Association (RCA) is running several candidates and their platform includes maintaining farmland and respecting the Province’s Agricultural Land Reserve. Among their four candidates for City Council includes one of the founders of the Agricultural Land Reserve, highly respected farmer and current City Councillor Harold Steves. The RCA has prepared a video of the mansions on farmland available at this link. Staff are now plowing through 61 applications for the mcmansioning of the best farmland in Canada.
Is this a farmhouse?
Save the ALR in Richmond, BC.
