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The Proposed Satellite Boundary Extension of the City of Grand Forks Represents a Dangerous Precedent to All Rural Residents in the Province of British Columbia.
Recently the City of Grand Forks citing a lack of undeveloped industrial land within its municipal boundaries, acquired 400 acres of land with the view to establishing an industrial park. The land is located 4 km north of the current city boundary on Granby Road. The City is proposing to annex only this property and not any of the intervening properties thus creating a satellite of the City. This property is bordered by crown land on the east side but has private land abutting it on portions of the other 3 sides.
Satellite boundary extensions are not new to British Columbia. There have been 6 previous satellite extensions permitted by the Minister of Municipal Affairs in the past. All involved the annexation of existing industrial operations (gas plant, saw mills, and mines) to municipalities so as to increase their tax base. The proposed satellite annexation by the City of Grand Forks would be the first annexation of raw undeveloped land in the midst of a rural neighborhood. If this annexation proceeds, the City will be unilaterally thrusting an industrial development into the midst of an established rural neighborhood!
Historically it has been logical to expect municipalities to grow outward in a continuous manner. The formation of the Agricultural Land Reserve in 1972 has lead to the following developments:
1. Many communities are surrounded by ALR lands and their inventory of non ALR land available for development has become severely diminished within their municipal boundaries.
2. In many areas rural residential developments have occurred outside of ALR zones attracting people who value a rural lifestyle.
If the Minister of Municipal Affairs approves this proposed satellite annexation, it will be a signal that the provincial government approves of this mechanism as a way to ease land shortages within municipalities throughout the province. Can we then expect a stampede of satellite annexation proposals as these municipalities try to leapfrog past ALR lands to satisfy their needs for industrial land, commercial land, residential land, landfill sites, etc.? Will this not create greater land use conflicts and make land use planning more difficult? What will be the point of Official Community Plan development taking months and even years to develop when one could suddenly find oneself looking at a new industrial park across the road? .
We are asking for your assistance to help defeat this proposal. Please mail (or fax, free of charge, through your local Government Agent) a letter to the Honorable Jim Doyle, Minister of Municipal Affairs to express your opposition to this proposal! Until there has been a thorough public debate and the guidelines developed, satellite annexations should not be used as a tool to solve immediate land shortages.
Thank You!
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