Maple Ridge city council will be applying to remove a parcel of farmland from the Agricultural Land Reserve, in order to include it in the Yennadon Lands development.
The 1.6 hectare (four acre) parcel is located at 23154 128th Avenue, and is the last of 13 properties in the Yennadon Lands that must be removed from the reserve to allow development of employment lands.
The goal of city hall is that the properties would be joined into a 25 hectare (63 acre) site, to create a development that is part of the city’s commercial and industrial strategy. A staff report noted the properties along 128th avenue and 232nd Street are flat, easily serviced, and accessible from arterial roads.
At a May public hearing, residents spoke against the plan for about two hours, saying it will negatively impact wildlife, habitat, and a salmon-bearing stream. There were also numerous complaints that roads in the area can’t take more traffic.
The city planning department would create a “campus-like employment park with trails, generous landscaping buffers and screening to buffer the neighbouring residential development.” The project was supported by the past council, headed by Mayor Mike Morden.
READ ALSO: Maple Ridge council proceeds with Yennadon Lands project
On Tuesday, Coun. Sunny Schiller asked why the Agricultural Land Commission has already indicated it would support this property being excluded from the reserve.
Christine Carter, general manager of planning and development services, said ALC staff identified a number of properties in the city in 2011 it recommended the city move to exclude.
“The ALC did not provide rationale, although when we looked at them the majority of them were fairly small, or isolated within the community,” said Carter.
Council unanimously supported the motion to forward the exclusion application to the Agricultural Land Commission.
READ ALSO: Maple Ridge council chooses a plan for Yennadon Lands
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