Garden City Lands Coalition Society director Michael Wolfe shares his expertise while guiding free eco-tours of  the Garden City Lands.

Visit the Richmond's Garden City Lands blog for current in-depth insights.

We mourn the loss of our dear colleague Mary Gazetas on April 17, 2012. Visit Light a Candle for Mary.

Coalition goal: To keep the Garden City lands green in the Agricultural Land Reserve and to steward their natural treasure for agricultural, ecological and open-land park uses for community wellness. The coalition is a community of people who cooperate toward that goal as a public service for the people of Richmond, as well as the region, the province, and the world.

Visit the Future page for the PARC concept, the coalition approach to listening and conservation.

If you support that goal, you may wish to receive the Garden City News, a brief newsletter emailed to the Friends of Garden City about twice a month. To subscribe, simply send this subscribe email.

The "Why keep the lands green in the ALR?" PDF answers a key question.

The Garden City Lands, shown at top, are mapped with details here. The main entrance is shown here.

The coalition is led by the board of directors of the Garden City Lands Coalition Society. This year's annual gathering of the society will be on Monday, June 18, 2012. Once again, it will be interactive and interesting. For details about attending the gathering and becoming a member of the society, visit this page.

Above, Chak Au shows the IESCO award for International Eco-Safety Demonstrative City to Michael Wolfe and Carol Day. Richmond was one of just three cities in the world to be honoured with this award. Chak gave a lot of credit for the award to the Garden City Lands Coalition Society, in which Michael and Carol have leadership roles. Richmond School District won a similar award, and Chak brought both plaques back from the recent World Eco-Safety Assembly in Phonm Penh, Cambodia. The plaques are large (16" X 24") and solidly heavy, and someone had asked how he ever got them back. He said "I just opened my suitcase and threw out all my clothes and. . . ." On a happy occasion like this one, a little joke is worth a good laugh. For the whole story, see this blog post.

Election results: Eight of the nine candidates elected to Richmond council for the 2011-2014 term are Friends of Garden City who share the coalition goal. Coun. Chak Au is a welcome new addition to council.

A few examples of our activities:

• We have recently had success in getting the Garden City Lands designated appropriately enough in the Metro Vancouver Regional Growth Strategy after the Lands started out being called "General Urban," which means residential. There are  Metro Vancouver Regional Growth Strategy posts on our blog.
• In 2010, the coalition presented Strengthen and improve the ALR together to the Agricultural Land Commission of British Columbia. It is subtitled Input for ALC Chair Richard Bullock for the 2010 ALR Review from the Garden City Lands Coalition Society, Richmond, BC. It is expected that the ALR Review will be a milestone in wise and effective conservation of BC’s scarce agricultural land. The coalition has much to offer, and we have reasonable grounds for optimism that all input is being heeded.
• On Save Garden City Day, Saturday, September 11, 2010, Michael Wolfe led free eco-tours of the Garden City Lands in English and (with help from Daniel Leung) Cantonese. The participants said they enjoyed it and learned a lot. Ourpage describes past tours and opportunities for future tours.
• Besides free eco-tours of the Garden City Lands, we have had a free agri-tour of Cherry Lane Farm, where visitors could see urban farming, organic farming practices, and more diversity in action.

The Garden City Lands is active at local events like this one at King George Park.

Our Garden City Lands - brief background

• BC's Agricultural Land Commission was asked to exclude the Garden City Lands, 140 acres of prime farmland in Richmond City Centre from the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) so that over half the property could become high density development.
• Good alternatives had been proposed to keep the Lands as green open space in the ALR. The massive public input, evident in the ALC's Garden City Lands section, overwhelmingly opposed the application.
• The federal Minister of Agriculture indicated in a letter to the Garden City Lands Coalition that his department will consider using the lands for a program need if they become available.
• A key agreement expired on Dec. 31, 2008, after Richmond council refused (by a 6-3 vote) to take drastic means to extend it.
• On Feb. 12, 2009, the Garden City Lands panel of B.C.'s Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) REJECTED the application to remove the Lands from the ALR. Here's what we told the commission in a thorough analysis, and here's the commission's decision.
• Under the basic Garden City Lands memorandum of agreement (MOU), which has no expiry date, the City of Richmond renegotiated with Canada Lands Company and the Musqueam Indian Band to determine the future of the Lands. There could also have been occasion for the federal government to become involved.
• Along with unified strategic action by Richmond council, community action on this issue remains very important. Visit the Action page.

•  Many defenders of the Garden City Lands wrote to Canada Lands Company, and the Garden City Lands Coalition has couriered a large (about two hundred pages), organized (in a binder with seventeen tabbed dividers), and highly informed presentation. It is also available here on this website. It is called Save Garden City: An urgent request to Canada Lands Company.

• The City of Richmond purchased the Garden City Land on March 31, 2010. The Musqueam Indian Band sued the City of Richmond, making various claims on the premise that it sold its interest to the city under duress, in a writ dated April 9, 2010.

• Note re "The facts disagree with Richmond Coun. Evelina Halsey-Brandt." Evelina Halsey-Brandt wrote an unfortunate letter about the president of the Garden City Lands Coalition Society in the Richmond Review. His response with this title was on this page. It is now on the Richmond's Garden City Lands blog. Click here to read it there.

  __________

Reminder: Visit the Richmond's Garden City Lands blog for other current in-depth insights.

To read a PDF file, you may need to download Adobe Acrobat. To do so, click on the icon at left.