Final approval could be on the horizon for a large industrial development adjacent to Burns Bog.
The proposed MK Delta Lands development west of Highway 91, near Nordel Way and the South Fraser Perimeter Road, includes 2.2 million square feet of industrial space.
Delta council granted conditional approval following a public hearing in the summer of 2016, but final approval was pending contingent on a number of conditions being met.
The plan includes the transfer of all of MK Delta’s other land holdings, which total 132.7 hectares (328 acres), to the City of Delta for conservation, including land east of Highway 91 where the company had originally sought to build housing.
The company, among other things, also committed $6 million to agricultural drainage and irrigation improvements in Delta.
The project received Agricultural Land Commission approval in 2017.
In 2019, Metro Vancouver’s board of directors gave preliminary approval of a land use designation change from agricultural to industrial and referred the proposal to municipalities for comment.
Richmond as well as White Rock chose to formerly vote in opposition to the City of Delta’s proposed amendment to the regional growth strategy.
Metro’s board later that year would go on to approve the application.
A report to the Metro board noted, “Given the location and site context of the subject property, an extension of the Urban Containment Boundary will likely not lead to a proliferation of applications. It is noted that there is one large property to the east that is currently in the ALR. If the redesignation application for the subject property is successful, this large remaining parcel will be additionally isolated, and one can anticipate an increased likelihood of a future application for a Metro 2040 amendment for that property.”
The report also noted the addition of the MK Delta property to the regional industrial lands inventory would provide an additional 43.8 hectares (108.2 acres) of industrial land “which would be of local and regional benefit from an industrial-activity, goods movement, and employment generating perspective.”
According to Delta’s community planning and development department, the application remains at third reading but the applicant has made “significant progress” in addressing the conditions and technical requirements.
The planning department anticipates being ready to present the project bylaws back to council for final consideration and adoption this fall.
