NDP to Kill Richmond's Farmland MegaMansions
 

About time someone took action, since it was obvious Richmond never would:

Upcoming legislation will kill Richmond's farm mega mansions: Agriculture Minister
Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham says she is now ready to overrule Richmond city council on house sizes on farmland

Legally limiting house sizes on protected farmland is among 13 recommendations for “immediate legislative and regulatory change” put forth this month in a provincial advisory committee report to Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham.

“We can expect to see changes coming forward in the fall with regards to that,” Popham told the Richmond News...

https://www.richmond-news.com/news/u...ter-1.23401952

Great news. Glad it's being legislated. About time for sure.

Why is this an issue? "Mega mansions" don't take away anymore land than small houses with massive lawns necessarily

Because nobody needs a home with 10,000 sqft of space in it. They are just ridiculous and un-environmental to build.

These places occasionally pop up for rent on Craigslist and the amount of rooms and kitchens in them is mind-boggling (as are their prices).

So it's the provincial governments job to tell people how big your house should be? And why just in Richmond then ?

I agree how we should use alr land for agriculture but I see tons of small crappy houses using a ton of land for non agricultural uses. A big house could fit on the same size of land as the small ones.

It's more the houses are being used as a loophole to cram as many low-wage people and families/Air BnB tenants under one roof as the landlord can without it becoming obvious to Bylaw that clearly what the owner needs is a higher density residential lot to build a proper apartment complex on.
AKA: Sleazy Chinese slimeballs doing their status quo.
These properties are not being built for the intent of ONE family to move in. It's like those Vancouver Specials that magically convert from a one family to two family building by closing one door.

Spoken like a true Realtor.

The biggest issue is the landlift accompanying the dropping of a gaudy mega mansion on a small ALR acreage ensures it will never be economical for farming again, completely contradicting what the ALR is about.

Just one more piece of scamminess that seems to be endemic to Richmond.

Richmond: the stench of the Lower Mainland, filled with money-launderers in the scandalous River Rock Casino, shitty Asian drivers who don't deserve a BC license, and McMansions built in ALR territory by opportunistic landlords.

I admire you for calling a spade a spade and not tippy-toeing around in the world of Politically Correct. :tup: I wish more people had as much guts to say it the way you do. Thanx.

Amen.

Happy to hear about this.

Also, as many of you know I am the first to argue against overly PC sentiments, but I feel the conversation here has crossed a line.

Don’t paint too broad with your brushes and try to avoid throwing in obvious (and in some cases unrelated) racist sentiments.

In the end it only hurts the legitimate points you have.

The ALR mega McMansion epidemic is not just Richmond. For example there are houses on farms in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows that look more like hotels to house you and your entire extended family. It is not just Chinese owners in Richmond pulling this junk.

Don't forget the birth of illegal Chinese Uber and the hotbed of birth tourism. Truly a scummy no moral city.

South Asians are also doing the same thing in Surrey, Delta, Langley and to the extent Abbotsford. There are two McMansions a block away from my house for brown families to move because Langley property isn't as taxed high relative to other LM cities. They're hideous, and the entire front lawns are nothing but pavement. They use so much unnecessary space.

I'm aware that it's endemic across the Lower Mainland, but Richmond is the worst offender. The city doesn't do jack shit to fix the problem—even enabling said problem—so the Province has to intervene.

The problem with PC vs nonPC is that either can avoid the reality of a topic.
In this case, one only needs to look at the ALR legislation to see that this kind of intervention is not needed. 'Whatnext' has it correct. These giant constructions go beyond the reasonable habitation of farmland and take too large a percentage of that land and remove it from the possibility of future farm use. The ALR does not force land owners to farm on their land. BUT, it only accepts uses that are compatible with future farming.

So, enjoy being brave and calling out those 'lousy' people trying to screw the system, and I suppose therefore, screw you too, but housing size is irrelevant. It's all about land use and potential land use related to agriculture. By this measure, a small house with a large lawn does not impinge on the ALR to the same degree. The ALR can be policed through its own legislation, and you guys are just spitting anger and spinning your wheels complaining about what some people consider to be a home.

Why only Richmond? A lot of the ALR is implemented through local government. In this case they can use bylaws to limit whatever they can get away with. BUT, strictly speaking, there is a better, more principled, and stronger legal way of restricting the use of ALR land - and that would be the responsibility of the Province. It is these aspects of the ALR regulations that should be used to prevent greenhouses, and maybe marijuana production within the ALR. These are much bigger issues than the tasteless steroidal mansions. All could be excluded, and greenhouse/marijuana farming could quickly become part of the industrial landscape (on warehouse rooftops, etc.).

Oh, and to stoop a bit, it's always funny to see what small issues get certain types riled up so much . . . the same types seem to get less upset about truly large and important issues.

Why is being un-PC so often tied to the expression of the small and petty? Right now, our world is being continually knocked off attending to globally important problems through an endless stream of emotionally charged bitching, insulting, and petty airing of grievances. It's exhausting, and I for one, cannot wait for it all to pass. I couldn't care less about political correctness, BUT, correctness is another matter. Correctness (truth) is a bit lost these days.

If the house is being used to house the extended family z I see no issues.

And about 50% of metro Vancouver alr is not being used

And the racist posts here are gross

As much as I acknowledge that racism is unhealthy and borderlines on forum rules, many of us cannot keep a facade that it's all cool and dandy when a particular geographic group has repeatedly indicated not only will they refuse to abide by the local rules but will steamroll any attempts to be nice back to the point it makes broad strokes.

There may be some South Asian multigenerational families using these mega mansions in the way you describe but the vast majority are Mainland Chinese trophy houses. If 50% isn’t being farmed, we need to do better, not worse, at encouraging agriculture.

Well I don't get it. Based on google earth it looks like there are mega mansions sorrounded by active farm land.

I don't see how having, for example a 4 storey 10,000 sqft house versus a bungalow with an acre of a front lawn As more harmful to alr

If you don't, then read my post above. It's pretty straightforward.