One may wonder why a university student would choose to take up action to save what, frankly, is a bunch of farmers’ fields. Well, for starters, I absolutely love spending time in the country. The fresh air, quiet, and smell of nature is truly intoxicating and makes for the most relaxing times you could imagine.
Now, why Barnston Island? Well, Barnston Island is like a second home to me and will soon become my primary residence. In the time I have spent there, I have truly fell in love with the place. I believe there is nowhere else in the world like it and that people in the lower mainland are truly lucky to have access to this amazing place.
Where else can you find an island like this, largely untouched in the last half century, only a 5 minute ferry ride from one of the fastest growing cities in Canada. An agricultural paradise, this close to a major city centre, would be truly unheard of elsewhere in the world.
HOW IS BARNSTON AT RISK?
A little history lesson here. In 2004, the majority of land owners on Barnston Island applied to have their properties removed from the ALR with the intention of rezoning the island to industrial use property. The owners, both residents and landholding companies, would surely make millions on the sale of their land, totalling approx. 1000 acres. After two and a half years of deliberation by the ALR, heated community meetings, newspaper articles, and other acts of advocacy for and against development, it was decided that the island was still viable for farming and the need for more industrial land was not justified.
Since that defeat, Barnston Island has undergone somewhat of a transformation. Several additional properties have been bought by holding companies. The houses on these properties were then either torn down or left unoccupied to rot. The island has turned into territory for speculators with only a small number of residents remaining. Even at the time of the first application, the advocates of the island were far outnumbered by people wanting to cash in at the expense of nature and tradition. This map shows the portion of the island that was part of this application.
It seems that these developers are just biding their time until the next application. In 2014, ten years after the first, they will be able to apply again. I’m afraid that advocates for the island will face even greater adversity the second time around and that waiting for the application to be filed will make us too late to make a difference. That is why I am creating this blog. To help mobilize advocates for agricultural land before it’s too late and this little slice of paradise is paved.
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