From The Province – Jan 16, 2011

by Kent Spencer

Metro Vancouver directors approved a 30-year land-use plan for the
region on Friday, despite one director’s concerns about protecting
farmland.

The document, called the “Regional Growth Strategy,”
builds on principles of sustainability and protecting green spaces,
with emphasis on regional town centres where people work, live and
play.

One Metro director, Richmond Coun. Harold Steves, came out
strongly against the plan, but he was the only one of almost three
dozen who felt that way.

“The big threat in this plan is against
agriculture. We are allowing it to be threatened,” said Steves, noting
there are “food riots” in the world as a result of shortages.

Steves
said the inclusion of seven “special study” areas in Metro’s plan, in
places such as Langley Township and Pitt Meadows, gives tacit
acceptance to municipalities’ efforts to actively try to convert
farmland into non-farm uses.

“It increases land speculation and
the hopes of developers. Speculators never give up. They are
relentless,” said Steves, who comes from a farming background.