Delta farmland optioned to industrial group

The Independent MLA for Delta South claims to have uncovered documents showing a large tract of farmland could be turned into an industrial park south of Vancouver.

Vicki Huntington says her office has found that more than 220 hectares of Agricultural Land Reserve lands beside the Deltaport container terminal have been optioned to an industrial consortium.

According to Huntington, the options favour Lamington Heights Investments. It isn't a sale yet, but it means there's a contract in place to buy the land by a certain time for a certain amount of money.

She explained the plan is to build a logistics, or industrial park, beside the Deltaport but she says, that's not what fertile farmland is for.

"The targeted land is some of the best agricultural soil in Canada and represents a critically productive mass in Delta. This is the wrong land in the wrong place," she said.

Realtor Ron Emerson confirmed his company is linked to the developers behind the optioning deal. He says to be successful, the Deltaport needs to expand.

"Most successful ports, particularly the larger ones, have logistics facilities adjacent to the port."

Deltaport, approximately 30 km south of Vancouver, is already Port Metro Vancouver's largest container terminal, covering 85 hectares.

The Agricultural Land Reserve is a provincial zone covering 4.7 million hectares in which agriculture is recognized as the priority use. Farming is encouraged and non-agricultural uses are controlled.

At the time of writing, no final deal had been done and the developers had not applied to have the land removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve.

An option commonly allows a buyer to reserve the right to purchase a piece of land by a set date for an agreed upon price.

They are often used by potential investors to tie up the land while they investigate the feasiblity of changing the zoning or other aspects of the property.