Editor:
Re: Spetifores found support for initial development plans, Community
Comment, Aug. 3
It is frustrating to read Doug Husband's column in which he claims the vast majority of soils on Southlands are classified as 4 and 5 (being very poor) when the ALC website and other studies confirm there is a variety of soils from Class 1 to Class 4 and that poorer lands can, in most cases, be improved by better irrigation and drainage.
One has only to look to Earthwise Farm's success with organic gardening, and the recent potato planting and harvesting at 56th Street and 6th Avenue, to see what happens when soil is properly nurtured.
I do not see any evidence of smells and vandalism and theft and traffic, which Husband seems to feel must occur with farming. Our local traffic problems arise from having one main road in and out of the community - a road that includes too many traffic lights that impede smooth traffic flow - as well as large numbers of people who flock to Point Roberts for cheap gas.
Readers need a reminder that it was a 1989 citizenled plebiscite (following the longest public hearing in history, which was cut off by Mayor Doug Husband and council of the day) that put the issue of the proposed TDL development on Southlands to rest.
Husband concludes his article with a comment that the exclusion of Southlands from ALR in 1979 was needed "to meet a very strong demand for residential and other urban uses" as there was less than two years' supply of developable land at that time. It makes one question what kind of dealings transpired in order to have the lands removed from the ALR.
Hopefully this saga will be continued and we will all receive further enlightenment.
Jean Wightman
