Garden City Lands plans Exactly what does the future hold for the hallowed Garden City Lands? The future use of the 136-acre lands - bought by the city in 2010 for close to $60 million - will be at or near the top of the agenda for the City of Richmond in 2014.
City officials, including the mayor, have been urging the citizens of Richmond to tell them what they'd like to see on the site, within restrictions of the Agriculture Land Reserve. City council is expected to be presented with an ultimate concept plan for the use of the lands in the spring.
SkyTrain faregates opening The Canada Line and SkyTrain faregates and the accompanying Compass Card system is bound to hit the headlines when it finally rolls out in the summer of 2014.
Despite an earlier timeline of late November last year and then the spring of 2014 for a full rollout of the near $200 million system, its release has been pushed back due to technical problems.
The faregates themselves have been in place, and continue to sit unused in Richmond's Canada Line stations, for more than a year.
It's estimated the new gates and ticketing system will hit fare evaders hard, generating more than $7 million a year for TransLink.
Farm news: For and against 2014 will mark another important year for agricultural news in Richmond. Three key factors will help determine whether farming becomes increasingly viable in Richmond or inches closer to becoming a romantic relic of the city's past. Those factors include the province's core review of the Agricultural Land Commission, the city's possible
bylaw to rein in dumping of fill on protected farmland, and Richmond's local food movement's ability to engage a larger segment of the population. About 40 per cent of the municipality is in the Agricultural Land Reserve.
Industrialization of the Fraser With a jet fuel delivery facility on the Fraser River's south arm given a conditional green light in mid-December last year, 2014 is expected to be one of continued protests against further industrialization of the salmon-bearing waterway.
Also on the list is a proposed coal transfer facility at Fraser Surrey Docks which would see barges ship U.S.-mined coal to a deep sea port on Texada Island, then on to China. Grass roots opposition group Communities and Coal has vowed to continue the fight for an independent health assessment, while VAPOR will be mounting a legal challenge of the province's issuance of a conditional environmental certificate for a jet fuel delivery plan.
More school cuts Richmond school district employees will be waiting for the other shoe to drop as job cuts are expected for the 2014-2015 school year.
The job losses are to provide budget room for a contract agreement with non-teaching staff negotiated by the province that downloaded its costs on districts across the province. Also contributing to the funding woes is a BC Hydro rate increase estimated to cost an additional $150,000 to $200,000 annually. Overall, hydro rates in B.C. are scheduled to rise 25.5 per cent over five years.
Imperial Landing development The future of Imperial Landing along the Steveston waterfront should come into sharper focus sometime this spring. That's when city staff are expected to present a closer examination of how the Maritime Mixed Use (MMU) zoning for the Onni development could work for the 65,000-square-feet of retail space that has remained vacant since completion last year.
Council denied Onni's request last November to allow non-maritime tenants, such as a grocery store and a bank.
Anticipated salmon boon The declining fishing industry in Steveston could see a rare boon this summer with the expected return of the offspring from the remarkable 2010 Adams River sockeye salmon run, which saw more than 30 million fish return to the mouth of the Fraser River.
After an abysmal 2013 run that saw the sockeye fishery close down entirely and fresh fish prices soar, an overabundance of fish could mean $5-10 salmons being flogged by fishmongers. The fisheries department typically releases early run forecasts in March. Survival rates not only depend on numbers but other factors, such as water levels and temperatures for roe.
