Harold Steves, a longtime Richmond councillor and former NDP MLA, was in Delta this week to sound the alarm bells over the loss of farmland to various development projects. He says Delta could end up looking like Richmond in 20 years.

On the road to Richmond - Veteran politician warns Delta will end up like its northern neighbour if it allows farmland to be developed

By Sandor Gyarmati

Delta could very well be heading down the same road as Richmond in losing valuable farmland.

That's the grim warning from longtime Richmond Coun. Harold Steves, pointing to the South Fraser Perimeter Road construction, the Tsawwassen Golf and Country Club redevelopment and the housing proposal for the Southlands as the most recent factors.

Steves took part in an anti-Gateway Program sign unveiling Wednesday morning on a 28th Avenue farm impacted by the new highway.

In an interview with the Delta Optimist, he said he has real concerns about what will be left in Delta in a few years despite an Agricultural Land Reserve that's meant to protect farmland.

"Within 20 years of the Spetifore (Southlands) being built and the South Fraser Perimeter Road going in, Delta could look just like Richmond, which is pretty shocking," he said.

Steves was an MLA in the NDP government in the early 1970s when he, along with several others, including then-Delta MLA Carl Liden, who died this week, helped establish the ALR. It placed a development freeze on farmland, including large tracts in Delta and Richmond.

When it was introduced, Steves admits it was highly controversial and not well received by the farming community, but now it's recognized that without the reserve there would be almost no prime farmland left in Greater Vancouver.

Even with the ALR in place, Richmond lost over 1,600 acres of farmland between the mid-1970s and 2005 through exclusions, said Steves, a member of the Farmland Defence League of B.C.

The constroversial exclusion of 350 acres in Terra Nova a decade ago has similarities to what's being contemplated for the Southlands, formerly called the Spetifore land, he said.

"Metro Vancouver saved the Spetifore land 20 years ago and I was one of the speakers on that topic, and that prevented Delta from going the Richmond route then. But with South Fraser Perimeter Road and the industrial expansion all around Burns Bog, plus Spetifore, here comes Richmond."

Chair of Metro Vancouver's agriculture committee, Steves said there could very well be a change in government that could provide an opportunity to alter the final alignment of the South Fraser Perimeter Road.

"In total, not just Delta, we're looking at almost 3,000 acres of farmland that's being lost to the road and industrial development because of port expansion," he said.

Delta North New Democrat MLA Guy Gentner agrees with Steves, saying he's also cynical about Delta's farmland future.

"The line in the sand and the protection of farmland with the Agricultural Land Reserve really came on the south arm of the Fraser. We are losing Richmond and we couldn't save all of Richmond, it was gone by way of the speculator," he said.

"But the intent was in the south of the Fraser we could still hang on to Delta, but I think with the withering away of the Agricultural Land Commission, a lot of the authority has been downloaded on the municipalities. The Southlands is a classic example of it. Municipal governments are besieged with development proposals and the integrity of the agricultural protection side starts to break down," said Gentner.

Perhaps the only way to ensure the ultimate protection of farmland is to buy it and manage it through trusts, added Gentner, saying it will prevent speculators from buying land and waiting for the day they can start development.

Delta South MLA Vicki Huntington shares similar concerns.

"I think we are well on our way there. Terra Nova is no different than the latest two development proposals from big developers (in Delta). When you combine it with the SFPR and the overpasses and access roads and everything taking place, it's an incredible invasion of the lands," Huntington said.

The first-term independent said the loss of prime farmland for other purposes through the Tsawwassen First Nation Treaty is yet another blow.

"I've always thought there were other options but they (TFN) didn't and the government agreed with them. When you take the treaty and you take the SFPR and you take recent developments on agricultural soil that could be made class two, three or even one in some cases, then we are facing the destruction of the agricultural land base in Delta," she said.

"I keep saying if we face that destruction of the land base, we know we will collapse the migratory bird flyway, the two go hand-in-hand. Instead of losing farmland, we should be finding ways to make farming possible and profitable for the farmer. I just despise the government for this, it's so wrong-headed."

© The Delta Optimist 2010