City receives $175,000 grant for Garden City Lands study

28 July 2021

The City of Richmond has been awarded a $175,000 grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund to support its ongoing soil remediation studies on the Garden City Lands.

The Garden City Lands is a 55 hectare (136 acre) greenspace in Richmond’s City Centre which is, in part, home to the Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) farm (which operates on a portion of the site that has been managed for contamination), as well as one of the last remnants of the Greater Lulu Island Bog. Council’s approved vision for the site, as portrayed in the Legacy Landscape Plan, will see the creation of a public park for Richmond residents to enjoy this piece of living Richmond history in the City Centre.

“One of Council’s goals is to ensure Richmond is a sustainable and environmentally conscious city,” said Mayor Malcolm Brodie. “The Garden City Lands is a special site with a sensitive habitat. We’re pleased to see the Federation of Canadian Municipalities supports our vision for the site. The ultimate goal is to develop and implement a plan which will see the Garden City Lands safely offering such functions as food production, recreation and natural interpretation.”

Council endorsed an application to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for the Garden City Land Remediation Study Project on December 15, 2020. The purpose of the study is to fully identify, characterize and locate contaminants on the project site and secure a Certificate of Compliance from the Province of British Columbia which will certify that the site’s contaminants have been safely managed.

Since the early 1900s, the Garden City Lands has hosted a number of land uses including a shooting range and communication towers. These past uses have resulted in low-levels of contamination in the soil. The main focus of the Garden City Land Remediation Study Project is to look further into the impacts of these past land uses and develop a plan on how to best manage the contamination.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund was established to encourage environmental sustainability work in municipalities across Canada. For more information visit fcm.ca.

For more information on the Garden City lands including the Legacy Landscape Plan visit www.richmond.ca/parks/about/design-construction/gardencitylands.