IN PROVINCE SPARK CONCERN
Another Metro Vancouver politician, Richmond Coun. Harold Steves, a farmer in that city, has argued for years that ALR land is endangered by speculators looking for tax breaks.
These days he doesn’t have to make the case because the real estate ads he collects speak for him.
He points to a November 2016 ad from offshore-focused firm New Coast Realty that says: “In recent years many investors prefer to purchase agricultural land in Richmond, Surrey and Langley … with a big piece of land, build a luxurious house … swimming pool, tennis court … with the same amount you can only get a 2,000-square-foot house in other areas of Richmond.”
The ad also encourages speculators to buy B.C. farmland and apply to have it re-zoned for residential development, citing potential windfall profits.
An ad from Royal Pacific Realty advertises a small acreage in Richmond with building plans for a 12,000-square-foot mansion: “Set up your own private driving range,
swimming pool or tennis court. It’s all permitted on ALR land and because of the farm status, you pay no property tax,” the ad says.
Steves also uses the example of a recent ad posted by a Richmond realtor.
“He says that you can build your 20,000-square-foot dream home, and he will lease some land back from you and grow blueberries, and harvest them for you, and you can collect the tax break,” Steves said. “In my opinion, this is a scam.”
As an example of surreal price gains for a specific size and type of Richmond farmland since the foreign buyers tax on residential land was introduced, Steves pointed to one property listed for $340,000 an acre in 2016, and now on the market for $700,000 an acre. Smaller acreages — with new homes already built on them — are now selling for more than $1.5 million an acre, he said.
Recent Richmond city staff reports on the monster home issue in Richmond say that “many ALR sites may be viewed only as residential parcels … consequently, legitimate farmers have difficulty acquiring and farming these properties.”
The reports also show that building permit applications for mega-mansions on ALR land have exploded after the foreign buyer tax was introduced. From Jan. 1 to April 3, 2017, 45 residential construction permits on Richmond ALR land were submitted, compared to just 17 permits in 2015 and 18 in 2016. The average size for the homes proposed in 2017 was 12,900 square feet. The largest was almost 40,000 square feet. Brodie and Steves believe some of the largest applications in Richmond are meant to be illegal hotels.
Richmond staff recommend that council impose a 5,400-squarefoot limit for mansions built on farmland. Last week, after public hearings, council opted for an 11,000-square-foot limit instead.
“This permits about 1,000 parcels of farmland that have not had new houses built yet to eventually become (luxury) properties,” Steves said.