Trinity Western University plans to build dorms on ALR land

小股民

LANGLEY, BC: JULY 22, 2013 -- Langley lawyer and president of Live Langley Clint Lee surveys the campus of Trinity Western University in Langley Monday, July 22, 2013. Lee is concerned about several financial deals between the township and the university.Photograph by: Ric Ernst, PROVINCE


A Township of Langley plan to turn prime agricultural land into a university district around the financially-troubled Trinity Western University is drawing opposition from several sources.

Some Langley residents, Metro Vancouver and the Agricultural Land Commission are worried because the plan — approved by council on July 22 — would allow massive development, including homes, on farmland in the Agricultural Land Reserve.

The proposed new university district is located on both sides of Glover Road, south of Highway 1 and adjacent to Trinity. It encompasses 103 hectares, more than one-quarter the size of the UBC campus.

Township Mayor Jack Froese explained the plan in a press release, saying Trinity’s “success” should be “enhanced through expansion.”

“The decision made (July 22) will allow Trinity to grow, ” he said.

Langley lawyer Clint Lee is skeptical about the whole thing.

“Trinity has no money in the coffers to expand,” said Lee, who is forming a new political party to be called Live Langley.

“What is the Township’s purpose in allowing development to go forward?” he asked.

Financial records show debt at the privately-run, Christian-based institution had climbed rapidly to $41 million in 2012.

In his annual address in 2009, former university president Jonathan Raymond said the debt had “accrued over several years and is potentially fatal.”

“Escalating debt, significant losses of enrolment and a very small endowment ... threaten our future,” Raymond said.

Lee said the Township is extending special favours to Trinity that are not available to ordinary taxpayers.

He said Trinity had a water main extended to its property by the Township, sold a piece of land for $2.7 million to the Township and hasn’t paid its share for occupancy privileges at the Langley Events Centre, where their sports teams play.

Lee told The Province the property purchase occurred at a time when the Township said it was cash-poor and needed to sell Township-owned land to fund a new recreation centre.

“This project does not have the hallmarks of an appropriate, arms-length deal,” said Lee.

Langley’s director of finance, Hilary Tsikayi, said Trinity was unable to pay Langley $3.5 million four years ago for its share of the cost of building the new Langley Events Centre.

Tsikayi said $1.5 million is still owed, but the amount was reduced somewhat by the 21-hectare, $2.7-million land sale.

She said the books show another $613,000 debt, resulting from a water main that the Township built to the university when tests showed arsenic in the school’s wells.

Froese claims the university has received no special treatment. “I don’t see Trinity as a bad risk,” he said.

But he also conceded he was not aware of Trinity’s financial predicament.

“That’s their business,” he said. “I’m not going to tell them how to run their business.”

Froese said the university district is a long-term plan that isn’t dependent on Trinity’s participation.

“I look at this as 50 or 100 years into the future. It could be years before you see expansion,” he said.

Township Coun. David Davis, who voted against the plan, said one section of property on protected farmland is already slated for residential development as part of the university plan.

Portions of the property, owned by prominent developer Peter Wall, are viewed favourably by the land commission for development.

Wall’s conversion from agricultural to residential zoning has Langley’s blessing as well, but not Metro Vancouver’s.

Wall, who built the Wall Centre and other Vancouver highrises, has been granted conditional approval to build 62 houses on a 5.6-hectare portion of farmland considered not suitable for cultivation.

About 21 hectares would be preserved as public wetland, while the farm’s remaining 32 hectares would be kept for farming.

Davis said nobody has shown him how Wall’s high-end houses could be used in the university district.

“I don’t know why council is trying to push this through,” said Davis, a longtime dairy farmer who owns 40 hectares nearby. “If Wall can build a subdivision, why can’t the Davis-es?

“This Wall thing came through during the last (council) meeting of the last term,” he said. “It was snuck in as far as I’m concerned.”

Davis said the Wall property is part of the historic Hudson Bay farm, home to some of the finest soils in Metro Vancouver.

Wall spokeswoman Nicola Lambrechts said the farm went through “an extensive review by the land commission.”

“Land uses will see the creation of conservation areas, significant fish habitat, improved farmland and residential development,” she said in an email.

“The Walls believe the proposed university district will be beneficial for the community,” she said.

Land commission planner Tony Pellett said approval for the Walls is contingent on an agreement to pump out excess water from low-lying farmlands near the Salmon River. Permission from the federal government is required because fish are involved.

“The result would be a benefit to agriculture,” Pellett said. “We’re expecting to reach a final agreement with the Walls at some point.”

Metro Vancouver has launched a court challenge against the Township’s plans for the university district. The case will likely be heard in October.

The Agricultural Land Commission’s concerns stem from its mandate to protect farmland from development. Most of the university district is on farmland that the commission wants to preserve for growing food.

Trinity’s new president, Abbotsford lawyer Bob Kuhn, said Trinity has engaged in an “open dialogue” with the Township regarding expansion in the decades to come.

“We assume those discussions will continue ... There are no agreements between the university and the owners of the Wall property,” he said in an email.

“Insofar as the economic arrangements with the Township are concerned, the current obligations (totalling approximately $1.5 million), while not in default, are the subject of discussions with the Township that will result in such liabilities being retired (paid back by the university),” he said.

“There have been times in Trinity’s history when the economic challenges seemed overwhelming ... I am totally convinced we are well on our way to overcoming (those) challenges,” he said.