Lantzville Decides Not to Jail Local Man

Photo courtesy: © Living-On-Purpose-Lynn

This past summer I told you about BC farmer Dirk Becker's fight with the local elected government that could have ended with a six-month jail sentence. His crime? Becker and his partner Nicole Shaw were growing food for sale on their 2.5 acre residentially-zoned semi-rural lot in the town of Lantzville on Vancouver Island. What seems to be a dispute started by one disgruntled neighbour that was then taken up by the town mayor and some members of city council was ended on election day.

Photo courtesy: Dirk Becker via TreeHugger

Once he had transformed the land and planted a few crops, he decided he could sell some of his extra produce to his neighbours. It would put a few dollars "walkabout money" in his jean's pocket. Becker and Shaw received one complaint from one neighbour who felt their manure and/or compost was offensive; as if the previous garbage, etc. wasn't. Give me organic produce any day over barren junk yards. It seems that although there are horses and cattle being kept in the same vicinity, the organic farm (1 entire acre) was too rural for the town's by-laws. It quickly became an issue that divided the town; however....

This past November citizens in Lantzville voted out the incumbent mayor Colin Haime, in part because of the issue surrounding Becker and Shaw. In his closing written address as mayor Haime had the following to say about the farmers' supporters:

You supported an individual who thumbed his nose up at the bylaws of the community and its residents including his neighbour. You have set the precedent whereby laws are now set by conflict. The loudest one wins. At the same time you abandoned and ridiculed law abiding citizens who were only interested in the piece (sic) and enjoyment of their own property. You want the right to do as you please but you deny the rights of others the same thing.

The urban farming issue wasn't the only contentious issue during the election but newly elected mayor Jack de Jong did use it as leverage to convince people to vote for him. De Jong said his biggest priority is to secure a reliable source of water for the community and that the urban farming issue was distracting city council from achieving that goal.

Becker is happy that the pressure is now off of him and says:

Our new mayor shows all the hallmarks of being warm, friendly, reasonable, collaborative and big picture oriented.
My sense is that he wants to move on and not waste any more of our citizens money and time in the form of legal proceedings and also staff time.

There is no guarantee that Becker and Shaw won't run into trouble with local bylaws since none have been changed thus far, but until then:

Nicole and I will continue farming for a living as we have for over 6 of the 12 years we have worked this land and selling at the farmers market we started. If the district of Lantzville offers us 'spot zoning' or anything that would be a positive contribution to our community and reduce the degree our one neighbor can make council's lives difficult we are totally open to that.

Via TreeHugger.com

Grow Your Own Vegetables and Face Jail Time in Lantzville, BC

Photo courtesy: Dirk Becker via TreeHugger

Once again, bureaucratic red tape has made a mountain out of molehill. However, in this case, there isn't even a molehill. Misinterpretation and governmental tunnel vision have created an incident out of nothing. A Lantzville couple have brought 2.5 acres back to a more natural state of being, increased the wildlife in that area, and made a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Their reward? Read on...it will amaze you.

A man in Lanztville, British Columbia is facing a battle with the local government after converting his 2.5 acre "residential" lot from a gravel pit into a thriving organic farm. His refusal to "cease all agricultural activity" could land him six months in jail.

Acting on a single complaint from a disgruntled neighbor the regional district sent a letter to Dirk Becker giving him 14 days to "remove the piles of soil and manure from the property." The quoted bylaw states that property owners will ensure their property doesn't become or remain "unsightly". Specifically this refers to "the accumulation of filth, discarded materials or rubbish, which includes unused or stripped automobiles, trucks, trailers, boats, vessels, machinery, mechanical or metal parts." Admittedly, it can be argued that, to some a manure pile could be considered "filth". But, considering how Becker regenerated his 2.5 acres (see photo above) this characterization is an insult.

Becker explains the character of his neighbourhood and the evolution of his piece of property in an article he wrote for Synergy Magazine.

We have 2.5 acres in total, as do several of our neighbours. Three doors down our road are both cows and horses. As you can see from our photographs, the area we live in can hardly be considered "urban". However, we are using the term to describe our situation as our property is zoned "residential" and we are doing small scale, organic growing of fruits and vegetables on one acre. Lantzville is a small community (population 3,500) just north of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Even the name, Lantzville, evokes images of small town camaraderie, walking down main street, basket in hand, to see the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. It's surprising that on such a quiet, rural, two-block long, dead-end road, with forest across the street and acreages on either side of us, that we would end up being ordered to stop such an essential activity as growing food for others because of a particular bylaw.

The previous owner used an excavator and dump truck to mine and scrape the land bare. He had a soil screener set up on the property, selling the soil, then sand, then gravel, which resulted in lowering the level of the property by about four feet. When Dirk assumed ownership, all that remained was gravel. There were no worms, no grasshoppers, no birds, no butterflies; essentially - no living creatures!

Since 1999, Dirk has made a tremendous effort to heal the land, beginning slowly - one wheelbarrow at a time. Nicole joined him at the end of 2006. It has been a gradual, organic process from planting a few fruit trees and having a small growing area, to expanding with more hand-made soil using wood chips from local tree companies and a small amount of horse manure from local, Lantzville stables. Now we have four kinds of bees, several types of dragonflies, numerous types of butterflies, frogs, toads, snakes, hundreds of birds and much more! We have dedicated our time to supporting hundreds of community members who have sought guidance on how to become more sustainable in their own lives; from educating people on how to support sustainable local initiatives (including 4H and homeschoolers), to teaching families how to grow their own food.

The original letter asking Becker to stop agricultural activities arrived in September, 2010. Since then, there has been a huge public outcry in support of his activities, including a decent showing of 75 people at a support rally last night. Despite this, the municipality has recently hired a law firm to pursue the matter. Becker received a couriered letter in early June, once again asking him to stop growing food or they will proceed with legal action against him. What this could amount to, according to Becker, is a judge ruling that he is "in contempt" of the district bylaw and he could be sentenced to six months in jail.

Via TreeHugger