"Don’t Repeat Richmond’s Mistakes”, States Food Security Expert

By Dana Maslovat - Friday April 9, 2010 - Once again, hundreds of Tsawwassen residents turned out to a Tsawwassen Area Plan public information meeting on Thursday night to voice their concerns regarding a potential re-designation of the Southlands agricultural land to accommodate a contentious housing development.

After being forced to admit significant flaws in their survey questions and their meeting format, Delta municipal officials bent to the will of the people and arranged open-mic meetings on April 6 & 8, something residents have been demanding since the start of the discussions dealing with the Southlands redesignation from agricultural to urban land.

Both meeting saw residents lining up before the doors were open so they could speak to the issue that has become the major focal point being examined by the Tsawwassen Area Plan Committee. Residents were given 3 minutes to speak and an overwhelming majority of residents spoke against any redesignation and development of the Southlands. By the end of the combined 5 hours of meetings, 83 residents had spoken – 55 spoke against development, 25 for and 3 undecided.

Arzeena Hamir, Professional Agrologist and Co-ordinator of the Richmond Food Security Society, cautioned Delta not to follow Richmond’s example of development of farmland, noting Richmond’s decrease in local food production from 83% of their required vegetables to currently only 7%. Her comment that we are looking to Delta to feed the Lower Mainland, and her plea that we learn from Richmond’s mistakes, were greeted with enthusiastic and sustained applause.

Any redesignation will change the Official Community Plan and open up the Southlands for a 1900 unit housing development by Century Holdings. This piece of farmland was the cause of the longest public hearing in Commonwealth history and a resident run plebiscite in 1989, which prevented a 2000 unit development that was proposed for the same property.