by Eva van Loon

July 5, 2007: the Agricultural Land Commission came to hear Powell River’s input on an application to remove 5 land parcels, 847 acres, from the Agricultural Land Reserve to build an international airport, a gated housing development, a 5-star hotel and convention centre, and a golf course.

Powell Riverites filled the Ballroom at Town Centre Hotel. Almost forty people responded to the presentation by representatives of the City, Catalyst, Sliammon band, the joint-venture developers (PRSC), and the wildly named Yrainucep Development Corporation.
(In case you missed it, “Yrainucep” is “Pecuniary” for those of us who read backwards, and pecuniary means anything to do with money.)
The Commission listened attentively for over 4 hours. The applicants presented Powell River’s need for residential and industrial development on land which, they claim, is no good for agriculture anyway. Then the public spoke, many expressing confusion and doubt over so vague a proposal, while acknowledging PR needs diversified economy.

Where are the disputed parcels of land? The prettiest bit is Parcel A, 143 acres roughly between the Recreation Complex and Willingdon Beach, where so many of us enjoy the lovely trails. Parcel C is 32 acres between Cranberry and Townsite, partly logged in the past but still affording recreation. The remaining three parcels lie joined in Wildwood, one entirely owned by Catalyst.

In arguing that these are not cultivable, the applicants never bothered to define “agriculture”. On the website, however, agriculture is defined to include the growing of trees—something all 5 parcels are very good at.

Material posted at the meeting claim that only 7% of soil in the five parcels is top quality, but the soil maps reveal that Parcel A has mostly excellent soil, the Cranberry parcel has middling soil, and the Wildwood parcels, while having the poorest soil overall, can and do produce. In order to get Parcel A out of the ALR, the applicants lump it with much bigger parcels where the soil is poorer, claiming in the aggregate that these lands are not cultivable. No plans for desirable Parcel A or for the Cranberry parcel were presented; presumably these lands are wanted for speculation of the pecuniary kind.

Whether it was this distortion of the nature of the parcels, the vagueness of the proposal, or the sheer madness of the notion that enough people would fly to the Pearl on the Sunshine Coast to support a jetport and convention center and untold local “careers”, the public’s b.s. detector began twitching early on.

Applause showed strong feeling against giving up the nature of these parcels for the sake of a development out of tune with Powell River from the get-go. Yet, clearly the public also harbors huge concerns about sustainability of the local job market and economy as well as the local food, water, and energy supply.

ALC members will now discuss all the oral and written input and decide whether this application is a good way to address those concerns.