Sandown lands in new hands
North Saanich takes reins of 83-acre parcel for agricultural use; council looks at options, including community gardens, farm markets and educational opportunities
The district of North Saanich now owns an 83-acre parcel of the Sandown lands for agricultural use.
“It’s been a very long haul and many, many meetings, starting in 2010,” said North Saanich Mayor Alice Finall.
“It’s had its ups and downs, but mostly it’s been a very exciting process and prospect for North Saanich to have this amount of land in the Agricultural Land Reserve.”
Sandown is a 95-acre parcel of land on the north side of Glamorgan Road that operated as a horse and harness racetrack for 50 years under the ownership of the Randall family.
The family donated 83 acres of land to the district for long-term agricultural use.
In return, they asked to retain a 12-acre strip site along McDonald Park Road for commercial use.
The family, along with Platform Properties, has announced Canadian Tire as a potential first tenant in a commercial development.
The district added another 12 acres of municipal land to the 83 acres for a total of 95 acres of agricultural land.
Derelict buildings on the site will be demolished and soil drainage improvement made by Platform Properties.
Council will consider results of the Vision Sandown consultation process, carried out in 2015, that solicited the views of residents on use of the agricultural land.
Options include community gardens, farm markets and educational opportunities such as incubator farms that teach people farming.
In mid-October, an engineering report stated the western part of the agricultural property was susceptible to flooding when the district’s stormwater system overflowed.
Council approved funding of $569,000 from its infrastructure reserves to address the stormwater issue and meet a Nov. 14 deadline from the Agricultural Land Commission for the project.
The land reclamation and drainage plan was one of the final conditions required by the commission for its approval of the Sandown Project.
“We’ve already started to do some work on site,” said Andrew Sinclair of Platform Properties.
“We’re looking forward to start the first phase of construction and reclamation of the agricultural lands in 2018.”
Sinclair said the work is scheduled to be completed by late next year.
Finall said: “It’s been such a long process, but I’m extremely grateful it’s done.”