AGRICULTURAL LANDS
The fact that our agricultural lands are being allowed to be developed with these large urban developments is, in my opinion, one of the biggest threats to our community and to what makes Langley Township such a unique and special place to live.
As we see growing pressures for an increase in housing stock to address housing affordability in our region I believe the push to see more urban development on our farmlands will only grow. It is crucial we have voices at the council table as well as at the regional table who will speak passionately about the protection of our farmland.
Approximately 75% of the land in our community is within the Agricultural Land Reserve. Over our more recent history there has been an alarming trend of urban development being approved on our agricultural lands. Whether the lands still remain in the ALR with the Agricultural Land Commission’s approval for urban development or it is removed outright, is in my opinion really just semantics and an indicator of a large loophole in the process. The fact that our agricultural lands are being allowed to be developed with these large urban developments is, in my opinion, one of the biggest threats to our community and to what makes Langley Township such a unique and special place to live. This kind of development is not farmers who are dividing off a part of their land for their children to farm, this is not a farmer creating a smaller parcel to allow a new up and coming farmer the ability to afford their first piece of land, these are large market housing developments which are being placed on our agricultural lands. There have been many examples since I was first elected 11 years ago which received approval from council and were then ultimately approved by the ALC. We are continually sending the message that if you try hard enough and spend enough money that the agricultural lands in our community are open to development. This creates more land speculators than farmers and only drives up the price of farmlands. As we see growing pressures for an increase in housing stock to address housing affordability in our region I believe the push to see more urban development on our farmlands will only grow. It is crucial we have voices at the council table as well as at the regional table who will speak passionately about the protection of our farmland. I have been a strong voice for over a decade and have not wavered in my stance on protecting our farmland from urban development. I believe now more than ever we have been shown the importance of food security not only for our community but for the region as a whole. It’s time we focus more on supporting our local farmers, encouraging new and innovative ways to better utilize the farmlands we have and finally put an end to the idea that we are willing to risk losing our farmland to urban sprawl.
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