Garden . . . Coalition
If you choose to be active in keeping the Garden City Lands as green space in the Agricultural Land Reserve, you are welcome to participate in the Garden City Lands Coalition.
This blog, which is focused on the search for truth, is supportive of the Garden City Lands Coalition for two reasons:
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The core group who formed the Coalition have a record of community service and commitment to finding and sharing truth.
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On the basis of the truth that has been uncovered in the past few months, retaining the green space in the ALR in one way or another, rather than immediately putting mega-density construction on large parts of the Lands, is clearly the prudent course of action.
Besides this blog, there are:
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A Google group, Garden City Lands Coalition, coordinated by Arzeena Hamir, for people who want to keep the Lands green and in the ALR
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A Facebook group, Garden City Lands, coordinated by Michael Wolfe, for anyone with an interest in the topic
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An incorporated society, the Garden City Lands Coalition Society, with a board of directors of Richmond citizens
Contact the Garden City Lands Coalition at this address:
gardencitylands@shaw.ca
olga62 said
I want to contact reg. where I can get an information about the norms we have in Richmond – what document governs it and where I can find it. Last year about Sept.-Oct. 2006 there was an announcement that city council is going to vote on cutting twice the norm for the park land in the Richmond’s City Center area (where I live on the north-east corner of the Blundell and Gilbert rd). I contacted them to oppose it and the answer was that in order to accommodate the norm after the all of the high rise buildings build there they simply do not have the amount of the space there – high density. I think that it means that development permits were issued in violation of the existent by-laws and this norm cutting was done as an attempt to conceal it. Probably there is some kinds of responsibility can be claimed for the violation of the by-laws by the city hall itself. So I wanted to check if the resolution to cut the park norm passed and anyways it existed when development permits were issued (dates before of new norms) so I would be interested in setting the group of the people living in the City center who’s right were violated then.
Harold Steves said
Olga is absolutely right.
Richmond Council reduced the park requirement for downtown Richmond by 50%. I opposed the change. Unfortunately, neither the original park requirement nor the new reduced one is mandatory before development can go ahead. Downtown Richmond will never have the amount of parkland needed. That’s one reason keeping all of the Garden City Lands is so important.
The Parks Master Plan adopted by Richmond Council states that in 2003 we were already short 155 acres. By 2021 we will need 58% more park and open space than we have today and need to find an additional 832 acres in the next 13 years. The City Centre was short 16 acres in 2003 and required 213 more acres of park by 2021. By arbitrarily reducing the amount of park land needed we only need 107 acres in the City Centre by 2021. Isn’t that amazing!
Pantelis Karaplis said
When will the ALC make a decision on the Garden City Lands?
kewljim said
Pantalis, since they won’t consider the application until early June, it will be some time after that.