A Richmond farmer wants to raise his property by a metre, claiming poor drainage is making it impossible to grow blueberries.
Inderjit Gosal, whose farm is at 21700 River Rd. in east Richmond, wants to create an organic blueberry farm, and has applied to bring in almost 24,000 cubic metres of soil, which is equivalent to about 3,380 truckloads.
Staff have set down conditions - for example, traffic management, logging of soil being trucked in, site visits by city staff and on-going consultation with an agrologist – if the application is approved.
While city staff estimate the farmer will get about $290,000 in tipping fees, they also think reporting, site preparation and project management will cost more than two-thirds of it, or about $200,000.
Currently, the property can support vegetable or cranberry crops, according to the city staff report. The owners have tried in the past to grow blueberries but, because of the high water table and poor drainage, they haven’t been successful.
Council will decide whether to forward the non-farm use fill application to the Agricultural Land Commission, which will make the final decision.
