T
he soils are shallow.
Less than a quarter of
the land is in produc-
tion. The irrigation,
without a source of water nearby,
is negligible—and thanks to
Boundary Bay, it's prone to salt-
water ooding. "This is not good
farmland," says Sean Hodgins.
Hodgins, a developer and
president of Century Group, has
a submission before Delta town
council to redevelop 616 acres of
fallow land—straddling the U.S.
border in Tsawwassen—known
as Southlands. In November,
after four decades of wrangling,
Delta town council is expected to
approve Hodgins's plan to build
950 units on the land, which was
removed from the Agricultural
Land Reserve (
ALR) in 1981. The
town of 100,000 has been grow-
ing rapidly, with an estimated
20,000 new residents expected
over the next two decades. But
it has few places to put them,
hemmed in by Boundary Bay,
the port, the U.S. border and
Tsawwassen treaty lands.
The decision to green-light the
Southlands proposal doesn't sit
well with Harold Steves. The for-
mer
MLA and current Richmond
city councillor was instrumen-
tal in establishing the
ALR in
the 1970s as a member of Dave
Barrett's
NDP government. Four
decades later, he remains one of
the
ALR's staunchest supporters.
(above) chris haylett; (below) rob Newell october 2015 BCBusiness 19
T HE MON T HLY IN FOR MER
TMı
"There's no reason why
there can't be room for
compassion and kind-
ness in business. I'm not
saying it's not there, but it
needs to be a pillar"
–p.25
"the alr is a blunt
force instrument,
which has its place.
but it doesn't put a
fine grain to how it
impacts the local
community."
–Sean Hodgins,
developer and presi-
dent of Century Group
O C T O B E R 2 0 15
The Untouchables
R e a l E s t a t e
the agricultural land reserve is undergoing the biggest challenge
to its mandate in 40 years, with 616 acres of fallow land in Delta
becoming ground zero in the battle by Jacob Parry
INSIDE
Chip Wilson's next big move ... The election promise matrix ... Peter Dhillon's ethical push + more
A GROWING LEGACY
Richmond city councillor
Harold Steves was
instrumental in
establishing the ALR
