DUNSTAN BROWNE: Dollar figures need more investigation before proceeding on Sandown plan

There are many competing interests at play in the proposal to acquire Sandown for a community farm.

To the Friends of Sandown Community Farm, the deal means that the region would gain 83 acres of publicly owned farm land to be used for allotment gardens, small farm leaseholds, a public farmers market and farmer training.

From the point of view of the Agricultural Land Commission, the transaction involves the transfer and reclamation of 83 acres from exhibition zoning, which allows a variety of non-farming uses, into agricultural zoning, which is much more restrictive.

To the taxpayers of North Saanich, the good news is that the district will eventually get an increased property tax revenue stream from an additional 12 acres of commercial property. The bad news is that the district may have to front end approximately $1 million worth of site remediation and demolition.

From the point of view of the developer, Bill Randall, he is exchanging 83 acres of poor agricultural land in the Agricultural Land Reserve worth approximately $2.4 million, which also has some potential contamination issues, for 12 acres of prime commercial land with good visibility and easy access to a major highway, worth from $6 million to $10 million when fully serviced.

Many citizens have expressed the view that the district has no business being in farming at all. Social farming and land banking is best left to the non-profit sector. The visions we have heard expressed for community farming are far outside the core competencies of the district and will distract council and staff from their primary jobs of running and maintaining the infrastructure of the district.

It is obvious that the challenge for council is to balance the desires of those who wish to preserve farm land against the possible financial burden of the front ended costs of reclamation.

Team North Saanich, of which I am a part, was elected on a platform of fiscal responsibility. The feedback I am getting from the community is that the current economic climate is not a good time for non-core expenditures. People are concerned about the rapid rise of property taxes.

Recently I gave notice of motion to council to cap municipal taxes at last year’s level. If this motion passes there will be no money to spare for new programs such as reclaiming Sandown. Indeed, there may have to be fiscal restraint measures implemented in certain areas.

Nonetheless I am prepared to take a hard look at the Sandown deal to see if there is some way that it can be done without being a burden on taxpayers. There may be some options available to us to go back to Mr. Randall and/or the ALC to see if we can restructure the finances.

Thanks to the Team’s efforts, the district is moving to fill in the blanks in the business plan. At the last council meeting, I put forward a motion to commission an appraisal of the property. Council also authorized a phase two environmental study to look for contamination. When the results of these studies are in hand, some of the costs and values council is working with will become more certain.

My bottom line is that for the Sandown deal to proceed, it must not only pay for itself in the long term, but also must be pay-as-you-go in the short term. In other words, if there is likely to be any increase in taxes due to Sandown, I will not support it.

Dunstan Browne is a councillor in North Saanich.