To the Editor:
Re. "Colony Farm plan raises alarm bells" (The Tri-City News, Sept. 19).
I invite the city councils of Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam to look at the draft plan for Colony Farm through a wider lens. Why not use the prime agricultural land (less than one third of the park's total area) to train farmers and grow food? The draft plan offers several layers of benefits to the public on individual, local and regional levels.
The original land use plan for Colony Farm called for agriculture on the land best suited for agriculture and wildlife on the land best suited for wildlife habitat. The Burke Mountain Naturalists assisted in developing this plan in 1995 and also endorsed it. It seemed to everyone to make a lot of sense.
This is the last significant piece of agricultural land in the city of Coquitlam. The entire park is in the Agricultural Land Reserve. It came into the park system with its 1995 land use plan and a legal covenant on the title that the land be used for agriculture. In the regional park system, Colony Farm is unique and should be viewed as an agricultural park.
The idea of commercial farming in a park is causing concern. If councillors say "no" to sales of produce from small-scale farming, the entire training/farming enterprise will be dependent on taxpayers and charity - hardly a model of sustainability.
There is broad agreement with the proposal to open more land for community gardens. The 250 members of the existing garden could easily increase to over 1,000 gardeners, requiring more road use, parking and washrooms. This is the most person-intensive use for land in a park but the benefits to individuals and community make it worthwhile.
With a land base of 647 acres, Colony Farm Regional Park has room - for people, for garden plots, for mini farms and for wildlife.
Ginny Wilson, President, Colony Farm Community Gardens Society
