Archive for June, 2009

New action steps

June 28, 2009 at 12:49 am · Filed under Insights

Richmond school trustee Carol Day recently letter to the Richmond News published,  and we’ve heard a lot of favourable comments about it. Carol wrote:

The Garden City lands are still in jeopardy as talks continue between Canada Lands Company, the Musqueam and the City of Richmond. These three parties will ultimately decide the future of these lands in the next two or three weeks. You are a stakeholder too, and you can help by writing to those parties and letting them know your wishes.

In response, people are asking “What should I say when I write them?” and “Where do I reach them?” I’ll offer a few thoughts here.

First, we most need to get through to Canada Lands Company. They hold the title to the Garden City Lands, and they have a mandate to provide community benefit when disposing of surplus federal lands like that. They don’t seem to understand the strength of the community feeling about keeping the Garden City Lands green, so the main point of your letter might be to let them know why it is important to keep the lands green and also to persuade them to find ways to make that possible. Write to:

Mark Laroche
President and CEO
Canada Lands Company
1 University Ave., Suite 1200
Toronto, ON  M5J 2P1
mlaroche@clc.ca

Second, we need to get through to Richmond council that we need them to work together to ensure that the Garden City Lands remain green for community benefit. The biggest obstacle to a good result from the current renegotiations under the Garden City Lands memorandum of understanding is that three council members and some senior City staff are still fighting lost battles. Your challenging task is to persuade them all to work together. (Note, by the way, that we don’t necessarily need them to purchase all of the Garden City lands. It is possible for the lands to remain green in any of several ways that don’t require City ownership. Write to:

Mayor and Council
City of Richmond
6911 No. 3 Road
Richmond, BC  V6Y 2C1
mayorandcouncillors@richmond.ca

Third, there’s a challenge that is very demanding but also potentially very rewarding. There are clearly some members of the Musqueam First Nation (legally the “Musqueam Indian Band”) that care a great deal about the environment, but they are not the most powerful members. It will be wonderful if the band will adjust its course enough to work with other parties to keep the Garden City lands green for community benefit. If the Musqueam act with that kind of goodwill, there will be a rapid increase in public respect for them and genuine reconciliation, which would be amazingly wonderful. If you are ready to give that a try, write to:

Chief Earnest Campbell and Band Council
Musqueam Indian Band
6735 Salish Drive
Vancouver, B.C.  V6N 4C4

In your messages to those parties, it is typically useful to cc our members of parliament, who can help if the people show they want their help, and also the Garden City Lands Coalition. If you are writing the MPs at their Ottawa addresses, there is no postage required. Here are the addresses to cc:

John Cummins, MP
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0A6
cummij@parl.gc.ca

Alice Wong, MP
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0A6
WongA1@parl.gc.ca

On top of that, please cc the Garden City Lands Coalition and the Minister Responsible for Canada Lands Company, Rob Merrifield.

Garden City Lands Coalition
8300 Osgoode Drive
Richmond, BC  V7A 4P1
GardenCityLands@Shaw.ca

Hon. Rob Merrifield
Minister of State, Transport
Place de Ville, Tower C, 29th Floor
330 Sparks Street
Ottawa, Ontario  K1A 0N5
Merrifield.R@parl.gc.ca

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Renegotiation within the “MOU”

June 21, 2009 at 5:01 pm · Filed under News Analysis

Renegotiation within the basic Garden City Lands agreement has begun. As far as we can learn, it was held up by some of the usual sabre-rattling from the lawyer for the Musqueam Indian Band. In any case, reliable sources say the process began in earnest in a meeting at Richmond City Hall on Thursday, June 18.

The intent appears to be to complete the renegotiation within a few weeks. Inevitably there are ways in which the Garden City Lands Coalition and other supporters of saving the lands as green space can provide useful input. No doubt this will be a topic at the annual general meeting of the coalition as an incorporated society, which is discussed in the post below this one.

Background

Some renegotiation of arrangements between three of the parties to the basic Garden City Lands agreement (the “MOU”) is needed because Agricultural Land Commission decisions have made it impossible for City staff to recommend rezoning for mega-density development on the “Development Lands” half of the property (an understanding expressed in MOU section 1.19). That means that a joint venture between Canada Lands Company CLC Limited and the Musqueam Indian Band must limit its development of the Development Lands to alternative uses permitted by the commission, with City staff facilitating zoning as need be.

Under the circumstances, Canada Lands is evidently interested in selling the Development Lands to the City and splitting the profits with the Musqueam. At minimum, the City is in a very strong position to obtain the other half, called the “Public Lands” at its fair market value, stated in the agreement as $4.77 million. That is consistent with the spirit of the agreement, and the City has clout in the form of the No Development Covenant. That assumes, however, that it starts making use of its naturally good position, which it has historically not done.

With the current make-up of Richmond council, City ownership of the Garden City Lands could be another step toward a green future for the lands. However, the same end result could be achieved without City ownership.

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See you at The Barn?

June 3, 2009 at 1:58 am · Filed under News

Terra-Nova-Barn

At Terra Nova, the northwest tip of Lulu Island, the City of Richmond got things wrong two decades ago but then recovered to some extent before it was too late. The good result was the Terra Nova Rural Park, along with the Terra Nova Natural Area. The park is in a spectacular location, and the City is doing a spectacular job of cooperating with the citizens there. With the Garden City Lands, the City of Richmond was on an even worse course than the initial Terra Nova one, but we hope that the turn-around will continue, with an end result that will be even better.

In that context, we’re excited that the 2009 annual general meeting (AGM) of the Garden City Lands Coalition Society on Monday, June 22, will be at The Barn at Terra Nova Rural Park. It’s a great setting for celebrating and learning. For more, please go to the Barn-AGM page on the Garden City Lands website. If you support the goals of the society, we hope to see you, as a member of the society, at The Barn.

Terra-Nova-sign

When you reach this sign at 2631 Westminster, you’re there!

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