Agriculture and industry in the Lower Mainland are like that old married couple you know who love sparring with one another but stand united against all comers – especially residential developers.
The loss of farmland to development through the 1960s prompted creation of the agricultural land reserve in 1973, with the lofty yet unfulfilled ambition of establishing land banks for industrial and urban development. As residential development began eating into the industrial land supply over the past decade, commercial real estate association NAIOP and others demanded that municipalities implement measures to provide for industrial development needs. Talk of an industrial land reserve resurfaced.
Demands for accommodation of the two land uses continue to play out, like a couple wrestling for the bedcovers.
For example, Metro Vancouver's regional planning and agriculture committee recently noticed that if marijuana farms set up in the region they would likely do so in industrial zones. Municipalities would take a hit from the loss of property taxes, which would go up in smoke. Reclassify just one 25,000-square-foot legal grow-op from industrial to farm class, and a municipality like Richmond would lose $33,105 at current mill rates.
But dudes: the irony! Metro staff calculated the amount following a discussion of the Property Tax Scenario Analysis for Agricultural and Industrial Lands that Colliers International prepared for the region earlier this year. The study examined options for leveraging property taxes to encourage both farming and industrial development.
How to do this without resulting in a net loss of either the agricultural or industrial land base? Colliers suggested providing tax incentives to address the heavily parcellized nature of farmland in the region, either by discouraging subdivision or encouraging the consolidation of farm parcels to permit large-scale farming.
Scale is also a question industrial lands face. The greatest pressure comes from redevelopment with high-density residential projects – those with a floor space ratio of 3.5 or greater – which are more lucrative to municipalities from a tax perspective. Colliers believes municipalities can encourage industrial development through multi-level buildings that allow traditional industrial uses at grade and new or accessory uses on upper levels. This could justify redevelopment of older, outdated industrial properties, creating more valuable assets for owners and greater tax revenue for municipalities.
F-Pacific Optical Communications Co., a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed China Fiber Optic Network System Group Ltd., has set up shop at 125–1991 Savage Road in Richmond.
The strata-titled industrial unit will churn out ceramic ferrule granules and blanks for export to Shijiazhuang, China, where, according to a press release, they'll be polished into a central component for the company's fibre optic patch cords.
The space in Richmond – industry sources suggest it amounts to about 2,000 square feet – will help reduce operating costs, the press release added. The company hopes to work toward an annual production of 72 million ceramic ferrules annually through 2015 and 2016.
While it's not unusual for Chinese manufacturers to set up factory outlets for their products in Richmond, F-Pacific is unusual in that the Chinese company has set up a production facility in B.C. Government officials, including B.C. International Trade Minister Teresa Wat, attended a ceremony on June 9 announcing the new factory.
Main and Broadway is changing with the construction of an eye-catching presentation centre for the development that Rennie Marketing Systems has christened The Independent.
While signage is up for the project, planned by Rize Alliance Properties Ltd., the presentation centre for the contentious project won't open until Rize secures a development permit. With a height rivalling neighbouring two-storey buildings, the structure is already attracting feedback, however.
“It's garnered some very positive interest in the project, primarily from Mount Pleasant,” said Chris Vollan, vice-president, development, for Rize.
The community will get another chance to comment on the project at a Development Permit Board meeting originally scheduled for June 30. It's been deferred to July 14, the city said, to let people enjoy the Canada Day holiday.
Vollan expects the new date will ensure greater community input.
