Volume 76 Issue No. 5

_ TheReview

ALR is saved:

But does ALR equal agricultural?

The Agricultural Land Commission has made itself clear
on what Central Saanich can expect for removals from the
agricultural land reserve. Now, Central Saanich has passed on
the news to its planners: bring us back an official community
plan draft that foresees no removal for residential develop-
ment, Mayor Ron Cullis told UMA Engineering and
Consulting.

But the question that remains unanswered — the question
that the land commission will someday be forced to face —
is this: does all the land in the ALR really belong there in the
first place? Unfortunately, its position of not excluding for
residential development doesn’t examine that.

One of the underlying assumptions seems to be, “‘It is
ALR, therefore it is agricultural.”

Agricultural” can be defined quite broadly. Rocky, land
with some native grasses that has no potential for growing
crops may be suitable for grazing a few sheep or cattle. But
whether anyone can make a living at it is another thing all
together. Similarly, low-lying wetlands may be ideal for
growing some crops. But if there’s no market or economical
way of growing the crops, there’s little incentive to tum the
land into an agricultural enterprise.

Another underlying assumption in the debate over the
removal of agricultural land is, “It is agricultural, therefore it
is environmentally pure and will preserve a pleasant, rural
innocence.”

And therein lies one of the major ironies of farming the
Peninsula: for farming here to compete with farming in
California, it will more and more be forced to resort to some
of the same practices. (The rather bland hothouse tomatoes
and carrots attract the consumer more than the tasty, local
product. Stores are less often carrying local produce because
of that.)

So there may be a day when the loveiy rural countryside
Victoria Ald. Geoff Young enjoys travelling through so much
is dotted with intensive livestock Operations and massive
greenhouses, instead of rusting Farmalls and wooden road-
side vegetable stands with hand-painted signs.

So what’s the answer? It’s certainly not as simplistic as
allowing housing to go on all the most easily serviced land
— because the land that’s easy to service is inevitably the
land that’s easy to farm, in the quaint and traditional Geoff
Young style.

But neither is the answer as simplistic as treating the ALR
as Sacrosanct.

Another draft of the community plan will come up with
more answers for meeting a regional housing demand,
without reducing the size of the ALR. But the commission
must take a hard look at some of the marginal lands within
the ALR. And agriculture can’t be relied upon to keep
Saanich Peninsula rural.

Nee, Land commi

Wednesday, January 31,1990 — A6

femovalS from ALR...

ssion balks at Central Saanich ‘2

WHEN IT WAS OBVIOUS )
THAT ROCKS AND WEEDS
WEREN'T THE CASH CRoP
WE HOPED FOR, WE DECIDED

To DEVELOP THE LAND...

FoR EFFICIENT

AGRICULTURE.

itl

i m1 (1 A

The editorials in this space, the left-hand
side of Page A6, are those of the
newspaper. They are written by the editor
or under the editor’s direction, and the
Opinions expressed are independently
developed by the editor and The Review’s
editorial department.

“Review
Serving The Saanich Peninsula
Since 1912

9781 2nd Street

Sidney, B.C V8L 4P8

or PO. Box 2070

Sidney, B.C V8L 3S5

Second Class Mail Registration #0128

656-1151

Publisher: Vic Swan Editor: George Lee
AN ISLAND PUBLISHERS NEWSPAPER

| PRIZE WIN
pre Bon ~ CH
\ c Do! A \

f

VERIFIED
CIRCULATION

CMe se

CONTROLLED

Golfing
conditions

Editor:

I am concemed with proposals
for golf course development in our
local municipalities by making use
of land in the ALR. Firstly I
suggest that the amount of land so
used be limited to a small percen-
tage of the total area in the ALR.

And secondly I propose that it
should be a condition of approval
that the developers construct and
maintain a public footpath around
the perimeter of the playing area
— something similar to the saw-
dust trail around Cedar Hill Golf
Course which is much used by
walkers and runners.

Will those who agrees with
these proposals please make their
views known to their local council.

J. Barber-Starkey
Brentwood Bay

Interesting
precedent

Editor:

On Dec. 2, 1989, the Paulson
family learned first-hand the ser-
vice they can expect from the
Town of Sidney when 3,875 litres
of raw sewage flooded the base-
ment of their freshly renovated
home, thanks to the town’s
blocked sewer main.

Yet the Town refuses to compen-
sate the family for the $8,000
damages, as the town is protected
by Section 755.3 of the Municipal
Act and is therefore not responsi-
ble — even though the town
collects taxes from property
owners for the proper removal of
sewage.

An article in the Dec. 23 Van-
couver Sun lists a most interesting
decision handed down Dec. 7 by
the Supreme Court of Canada. The
judges ruled that a family from St.
John’s, Nfld., (who experienced
almost the identical disaster as the
Sidney family) be compensated
$13,456.11 by the city as, “the
city was on the same footing as
anyone else being sued for dam-
ages done to a neighbor’s prop-
erty.”

Therefore government is no dif-
ferent than a neighbor when it
comes to liability.

I sincerely hope this Supreme
Court of Canada decision sets a

precedent across the entire coun-
try, thus making all municipalities
own up to their responsibilities.
Rozalynde McKibbin

Sidney

Super deal
not found

Editor:

In response to Doug McClel-
land, manager for media and com-
munity relations at Canada Post,
Tegarding rural mailboxes and van-
dalism in our area (“Box trou-
bles,” Readers’ Mailbox, The
Review, Jan. 17):

Since the introduction several
years ago of super boxes, I have
been calling Canada Post in Sid-
ney requesting a super box unsuc-
cessfully for our area.

Getting anything from Canada
Post is not easy. Perhaps I should
have directed my calls and con-
cerns to McClelland.

Nine years ago I had to petition
our neighbors to get a green box,
and until it was installed, several
months later, we had to rely on
neighbors to pick up our mail at
general delivery as we were “‘wor-
kers” who keep the same hours as
the post office and we were unable
to pick it up ourselves.

Several years ago, we “beauti-
fied” our green box area, building
a lattice fence and installing a
garbage can for all the junk mail
that littered the area. After this was
destroyed twice by vandals, we
gave up.

At our Own expense, and after
Tealizing Canada Post was not
coming through with super boxes
in the near future, we also put road
mulch around the boxes to avoid
the puddles and mud.

Canada Post has done nothing to
improve the corer and has in fact
dropped five additional green
boxes and an ugly rail for individ-
ual boxes (no doubt as a conven-
ience to the rural delivery person).

Once again, this past weekend
the boxes were tipped over.

Give us a permanently affixed
super box with cement pad any

day. I am firmly convinced we

won't see them in our area in my
lifetime.

J.A. Moffat

North Saanich

——

Before
the bullets fly

Editor:

This letter is in response to
your editorial “The politics of
murder,*” which appeared’ in the
Dec. 20, 1989, issue of The
Review.

The last line of your editorial
reads, “Now it’s time for a thor-
ough review of Canada’s gun con- _
trol legislation to ensure people #
like Lepine can’t get their hands
on semi-automatic killing
machines. ” «

If you are concerned about gun ~
control, wouldn’t it be more
appropmiate to amend that to read
“ensure people like Lepine can’t
get their hands on any killing
machines”’?

Legislation applies to all mem-
bers of society. If a member of
society is intent, fanatically so or
otherwise, on pursuing some
course of action, the fact that there
is a piece of paper somewhere
which says they ought not to take
that action, it (the law) isn’t likely
going to have much of a deterring
effect on that person.

The law is a realistic deterrent
only to the law-abiding citizen, not
solely because the law so states
but rather in combination with 4
what is perceived as being morally
correct and socially responsible.
After all, if there were no offences _
against society, would there be a
need for laws?

the thrust of your editorial could
be more appropriately have been
on methods of identifying and
dealing effectively with individual
members of society who have

tf

problems such as those expressed @® §

by Lepine. Had that issue been
completely addressed, the matter
of guns may not have come to the
fore at all.
Think about it!
Neil Lensen
Sidney

Partial survey
no guide

Editor:

What a mess North Saanich
soon would be in if its council
believed as D.C. Patterson appar-
ently does (“Pay attention to diste=g)
gard,” Readers’ Mailbox, Jan. 24)

Continued on Page Alls