The Agriculture Land Commission (ALC) could have done better in its denial of City of Powell River Council’s appeal to the order to remove an extension to Hemlock Street [“Agricultural Land Commission rules against City of Powell River appeal,” April 25. The denial is warranted, no question, but reads more punitive than constructive.
To be clear, the city permitted a developer to extend the street through land restricted by statute to agricultural use. Whether through incompetence or greed, that extension was unacceptable and required redress.
The city’s response was first to plead innocence and ignorance, and when that failed, to offer a token equivalent amount of land somewhere else within city limits, and then to threaten the shelving of planned agricultural enhancement projects that will come as a surprise to most living here.
It’s no wonder the commissioners have their backs up at this continued disrespect of the ALC and its purpose.
Penalties must both denunciate and deter. Requiring the city to rip up pavement and buried services is certainly a statement, but there is an environmental cost to running bulldozers, and the hillside only ever had minimal agricultural potential.
The ALC now has its pound of flesh, but its mandate to “preserve agricultural land and encourage farming” in BC could better have been furthered by opening a dialogue on more creative amends.
Don Button
Fairmont Street
