A piece of land proposed for a chicken barn in east Maple Ridge is now being sought for exclusion from the Agricultural Land Reserve.
Last year, Andrew Pozsar proposed building a 20,000-sq.-foot chicken barn on 250th Street, just north of Dewdney Trunk Road. It would have produced 25,000 chickens, every 54 days. The idea wasn’t popular with the neighbours.
Pozsar, though, scratched that idea in March 2017 because of the opposition and after distributing more than 200 information sheets to nearby residents, telling them of his idea.
The property is now being sought for exclusion from the ALR by Eva Pozsar, so that a nine-lot, rural residential development can take place on the 2.4 acres at 12225 – 250th St.
According to a staff report in council’s May 8 agenda, if the Agricultural Land Commission agrees to the property being removed, it wouldn’t require any further rezoning by the city.
However, Metro Vancouver would have to approve the extension of sewage services, which would contradict Metro Vancouver’s regional growth strategy, requiring that level of government to amend that plan.
As well, the existing residential zoning doesn’t accord with the OCP’s long-term goal of either agricultural or estate suburban zoning.
And if the land is excluded from the ALR, it could speed up other applications to convert farmland to residential, says the report.
Staff gave council two options to consider at its May 8 meeting: cancel the entire proposal by simply not forwarding the application to the ALR; or forward the application with comments from council.