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Hurdle Passed to Create North America’s Largest Urban Farm
Two years ago it seemed hopeless; only one city councillor, pioneer farmer descendent Harlold Steves, voted to save the 136-acre parcel in the heart of urban Richmond, B.C., for agricultural purposes. Thanks to the dogged work of the Garden City Lands Coalition, two major hurdles have been passed, moving them toward their vision of creating the largest urban farm in North America. It would include a teaching centre, food bank and local-foods restaurant, covering all the economic and cultural bases in the movement to spread good food to everyone. Here’s how the battle played. First, thanks to strong grassroots organizing, they got Richmond’s new city council (as of November 2008) to do a 360-degree turn, from proposing to develop the city’s share of the lands with high-density housing, to supporting the call for urban agriculture. And as of February 2009, the coalition got the all-important support of the Agricultural Land Commission, which has now blocked the proposed development of the parcel. (While in recent years the Agricultural Land Reserve has slipped in its mandate of protecting agricultural-zoned lands in British Columbia, this is still the strongest mechanism we’ve seen in North America to preserve farmland near urban centres, and is a worthy model to follow.) There’s still some big work to do, as the ownership of the land is complicated, split between the Musqueam First Nation, the city of Richmond, and a private land company. Check the progress on the Garden City blog. We give them our congratulations and support. -ADS
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