Residents concerned about Tycrop’s proposed use of farm lands for its expansion plans are holding their own meeting May 16 in Chilliwack.
Tycrop president Scott Mason had earlier announced a neighbourhood meeting — tentatively set for May 27 — to talk publicly about “options” for expansion.
But a Tycrop official’s comment that the company wants to clear up neighbourhood “confusion” about the plans rubbed area resident Susan Payne the wrong way.
She booked Evergreen Hall in Chilliwack in response to get area residents and those interested in protecting farmlands organized for the Tycrop meeting.
“They (Tycrop) are the ones who are confused,” Payne said Wednesday.
“The ALR — it’s a land reserve for agriculture,” she said, not for industrial development.
Payne also contends the proposed use of farm property on McGrath Road “is an ALR issue, it’s not some little neighbourhood issue.”
“We are running out of farmlands in B.C.,” she said.
So the May 16 meeting starting at 7 p.m. at Evergreen Hall is “open to anybody who is concerned about our ALR,” Payne said, including Tycrop owner Gary Teichrob.
The company’s expansion plans came to light after BC Premier Christy Clark visited the Rosedale plant during the byelection campaign with BC Liberal candidate Laurie Throness.
Chilliwack MLA John Les also mentioned the company’s plans — and his friendship with Teichrob — in a speech to the BC Legislature.
Last week, Mason told The Progress no decisions have been made, and the company will post its expansion plans on a website at www.rosedalecommunity.ca.
To date, the site is still under construction.
rfreeman@theprogress.com
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