Preserve Farmland & Stop Residential Encroachment.
Eliminate
Speculation
on Farmland
Enhance Farming Viability
A video montage that gives an idea of the farmland destruction happening daily in Richmond. Monster homes make agricultural land values soar, putting land out of the reach of farmers. Richmond FarmWatch is asking Lana Popham, MLA Saanich South Andrew Weaver, MLA Oak Bay-Gordon Head John Horgan to put an end to monster homes crippling the ALR.
This is the street view on Monteith in 2009, and the one below is the 2015 house.
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Here is the aerial view of the 2.25 acre property in 2009.
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This is a typical 10000+ sq ft home on farmland in Richmond and illustrates the scar left on the farmland from constructing these large homes.
Recommendations
The ALR (Agricultural Land Reserve) is a landbank, only 5% of the land in our province is included in the ALR, and only 1.1% of B.C.’s land base is prime agricultural land. Richmond’s soil is included in that prime agricultural land.
City of Richmond must adhere to Ministry of Agriculture Guidelines for bylaw development when it comes to home sizes and siting. Richmond must follow recommendations of Ministry and specialists such as Richard Wozny of Site Economics: http://siteeconomics.com/
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At provincial level, Ministry of Agriculture bylaw guidelines must become provincial regulations to preserve farmland and bring consistency across the Lower Mainland.
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At provincial level, tax fairness is essential, the additional 15% Property Transfer Tax (foreign buyers’ tax) must be implemented on ALR, and tax breaks meant to assist farmers should not be exploited by speculators and land developers.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Acting now will preserve farmland, end speculative development, and enhance farming viability.
Richmond and the entire Greater Vancouver region are fast losing prime agricultural land to the speculative development of large mansions and mega-mansions on farmland.These sprawling estates encroach upon and fragment the farmland with tennis courts, golf driving ranges, multi-vehicle garages, theatre rooms, pools and cabanas, and drive the prices up to levels that are out of reach for farmers and future farmers.
Municipal governments are expected to follow the Ministry of Agriculture Guidelines to Bylaw Development in Farming Areas which suggests to limiting farmhouse sizes to the average size of what would be allowed on nearby residential lots. The Guidelines suggest an absolute maximum of 5382 square feet, a very large house. In Richmond, they currently allow homes more than three times the size of a nearby residential house – 10,700 square feet.