As City of Powell River council fields fallout from a recent decision to support the exclusion of a 30-acre parcel of land in the agricultural land reserve (ALR), it is important to understand all of the factors at play.
The city’s support for a potential land exclusion by the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) to allow the sale of 132 acres is not something councillors took lightly at its Thursday, June 2, council meeting, but it was a solid decision.
PRSC Land Developments, a partnership between the city and Tla’amin Nation, is in negotiations to sell the land to Sino Bright School in order to develop an international school adjacent to Brooks Secondary School. The land sale hinges on the ALC’s decision on whether or not to exclude the 30 acres.
PRSC is determined to sell the land for economic development and Island Timberlands owns the trees. The entire area is set to be clear cut, whether Sino Bright buys it or not. Currently zoned agricultural, the land is better used for building an education facility rather than being cleared of its trees and sitting undeveloped or, worse yet, become a site for industrial farming.
Some welcome the development of the land under a zoning of institutional and the economic benefits that will result from Sino Bright, while others believe the city made a mistake endorsing the exclusion, and may have given up valuable ALR land that should have been protected.
Of the 30 acres proposed for exclusion, only six acres are considered fair for farming use. Those six acres sit on fairly steep land that is unsuitable for most types of farming.
Sino Bright has committed to support agriculture projects in a further 80 acres of land that sits inside the ALR. This large chunk is easily farmable land and Sino Bright is offering parts of it for projects that will immediately benefit the community, such as a farm-incubator project the city has been planning for years.
By supporting the exclusion, council is not saying it doesn’t support farming, or preserving farm lands. It is saying this is a feasible land sale with value-added benefits.
It has even been speculated that Sino Bright may buy back some of the trees from Island Timberlands to beautify campus grounds. A Sino Bright school in China the Powell River campus is being modelled after features lush green space and food gardens.
An exclusion of land from the ALR is never popular, but this one may have economic and community benefits that reach far beyond revenue generated from a land sale.
Jason Schreurs, publisher/editor
