Re: Gordon Head cattle lot gets another look Monday, News (March 20)
Coun. Vicki Sanders was quoted as saying that she would need strong justification before she would consider the proposal to change Saanich council’s practice, as a one-time solution to the Alberg property of rezoning and then removing it from the Agricultural Land Reserve. She states that “if we change the process for one, we’ll have to change it for all”. She goes on to state that “there is nothing unique about this situation”.
We certainly understand why Saanich council would want to follow the practice of getting ALC approval for most properties that are in the ALR. We are supporters of the Agricultural Land Reserve. However, in this case, the Alberg property is already zoned residential and is completely surrounded by residential properties.
According to Saanich staff, the Alberg property is one of six properties in Saanich that are still in the ALR, but are already zoned residential. One is zoned for duplex. The other four are on Christmas Hill, and are zoned small lot residential (two are zoned RS 6 and the other two are zoned RS 10). They are all surrounded by residential properties.
Foregoing the practice, in the case of the Alberg property, has no implication, nor any precedent setting for any true agricultural property in Saanich, which are all zoned for agricultural use. There is no other Saanich residential zoned property within the ALR that is not already zoned for small lot. Therefore, this property is unique in Saanich.
We are hopeful that this information provides Coun. Sanders the strong justification to reconsider her position, and we hope this also helps to convince others. We are very supportive of Coun. Fred Haynes’ willingness to help residents ahead of following an unwritten rule whose criteria have already been met.
Grant and Janet StarkMark and Pam VukobratTed and Lora LeaSaanich