Like a lot in life, land use is one of those things that tends to roll downhill.
There's a growing concern in the Lower Mainland these days that we're running out of industrial land, that we will soon face an undesirable situation where companies that want to set up shop here won't be able to find the properties they require.
This lack of industrial land means they'll be forced to locate in other jurisdictions, which would have negative ramifications for our economy.
This would be a significant problem if we were actually perilously close to running out of industrial land. That's not the case, however. We're simply lacking land that's industrially zoned.
Although there's no getting around the fact the amount of land we have at our disposal is finite, how we classify it is most certainly a societal decision. Up to this point our political leaders have allotted a certain percentage for industrial purposes, just as they have done for housing, commercial, recreation, agriculture and the like.
It's a pie and we slice it as we deem appropriate. Right now the piece cut for industry isn't necessarily a match for the appetite of that segment, a situation that can be rectified by a single, or perhaps multiple, strokes of the knife.
It's most definitely a political decision and it's where the rolling down the hill analogy comes into play.
Land already zoned for residential and commercial purposes is too valuable, even for the economic prowess of industry, and land designated for public use, places like schools, parks and natural areas, is obviously off limits. That pretty much leaves farmland, which has long been near the bottom of the land use hierarchy.
Although vital to our survival for its food-producing capabilities, farmland has been the place we've looked to over the years when we've needed to develop homes, shops, schools, parks and other uses.
The Agricultural Land Reserve has limited that practice in recent decades, but I suspect it will still be the place political leaders go to when corporate interests turn up the heat.
There's absolutely no denying that heading down that path puts us on a slippery slope, but at the same time it can be a bit like choosing between your own kids: Do you go with the food-producing one or the job-producing one?
The latter has prevailed in the past, so don't be surprised if we see land use rolling downhill yet again at some point in the near future.
