City staff are not quite set to suit up as "soil cops" just yet.
An agreement to oversee activities on local farmland on behalf of the short-staffed Agricultural Land Commission is being sent back to staff for further review after councillors discussed the matter at a General Purposes meeting Monday afternoon at city hall.
With a hefty bill of more than $230,000 to have Richmond staff ensure proper fill is dumped on farmland, councillors were cautious in giving their stamp of approval, especially if it meant those "soil cops" would amount to little more than employees of the ALC.
"Staff would not be able to deviate from the ALC's policies," said the city's general manager of law and community safety, Phyllis Carlyle. "We would be, in essence, subcontractors doing their bidding and couldn't alter from their basic, fundamental principles."
The matter arose early this year after a protest camp sprang up outside a Finn Road farm where it was claimed improper land fill - demolition waste - was being dumped on the property to construct a farm road to access a future tree nursery.
Long-time farmer, Coun. Harold Steves said city staff used the be tasked with the job 20 years ago and wondered what new responsibilities they have been shifted to.
"They're probably out writing parking tickets," he quipped, adding perhaps existing staff can be re-assigned.
"Someone should be enforcing the bylaws," Steves said, later adding, "The buck has to stop somewhere and if the land commission isn't going to do it, then we have to do it."
During the meeting, council members also agreed to contact Premier Christy Clark and Pat Pimm, B.C.'s Agriculture Minister to shield the ALC from any cuts resulting from the government's core review process. The review is being led by MLA Bill Bennett who has indicated there will not be any sacred cows, including the ALR.
A letter from council states the province should "protect and enhance the Agricultural Land Reserve and Agricultural Land Commission, and adequately fund and enforce the ALR, ALC and its policies."
