Times Colonist – Undated
A move by Broadmead Farms Ltd. to extract a plot of land from the Agricultural Land Reserve has residents fearing that Rithet’s Bog is about to shrink.
Saanich council this week backed the developer’s application to remove a 1,700-square-metre triangle of land from the reserve to allow future housing development.
However, residents are worried a policy to exclude more land from the reserve may impinge on the bog, proposed site of a municipal nature park.
Broadmead president Merv Mawson said past maps of the bog were inaccurately drawn and proper surveys have only recently been done. These show the bog is smaller than previous rough boundaries have shown.
Council decided to refer the issue to the Royal Oak Area Plan.
Broadmead’s long-term plan calls for single-family housing to the north of a road to be built off Chatterton Way, parallel and south of Royal Oak Avenue. The triangle of land which Broadmead wants to remove is along the proposed road route.