Statement of Significance Southiands Property Tsawwassen, BC

Statement of Significance
Southiands Property
Tsawwassen, BC
Century Industries Ltd. I Cotter Architects Inc.
05 September 2012
Delta Museum and Archives
RECEIVED
SEP 07Z012
Community Planning
& Development Dept.
Denise Cook Design
dlcook@shaw.ca
I
Southiands Statement of Significance
Brief chronology of the South lands property
Time Frame Event
Late 1800s
2,400 years
The Tsawwassen and other First Nations occupy and use the lands of the Fraser
BP
River Delta
c.1870s
The arable areas on the west side of Boundary Bay are settled for farming, initially
individually dyked and drained to make the land suitable for settlement and
agriculture.
c.1880s
Robert Alexander constructs the original Boundary Bay farmhouse which will
become the Alexander / Gunn house.
c.1890s
Robert Alexander subdivides his farm, part of which becomes the original Boundary
Bay village.
c.1897
Robert Alexander sells 160 acres of his property to the David Gunn family.
1900s
c.1914
The Cammidge House is constructed on the Cammidge Farm.
c.1921
Sam Spetifore and his wife Rose acquire three timber lots at Boundary Bay.
c.1927
1930s
c.1 970
c.1972-1975
c.1971
c.1981
c.1981
c.1982
c.1985
c.1989
Sam Spetifore and associates G. Amato, B. Spano, and G. Gallo, J. Novelli and T.
Cantofio all immigrants from Italy, create a small Italian cultural presence in Delta.
The Gunn family purchases the Cammidge Farm.
The Spetifore family acquires the Gunn family farm. The Spetifore name continues
to be associated with large-scale farming in Tsawwassen.
George Spetifore decides that farming is no longer was viable on the land and
envisions a residential housing development on the lands.
BC’s New Democratic Party creates the Agricultural Land Reserve. 350 acres of the
Spetifore farm is included in the Reserve.
The first development application for the Spetifore Lands is initiated. The proposed
housing development is complemented by a variety of other uses.
The Cammidge I Gunn property is purchased by Spetifore Farms, known as Triple S
Farms.
The Spetifore Lands are excluded from the Agricultural Land Reserve.
George Spetifore sells his entire 765 acre parcel to Dawn Development Corporation.
Delta’s first Official Community Plan designates the Spetifore Lands as “Urban.”
Tsawwassen residents challenge the proposed development of the agricultural
Southlands.
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Southiands Statement of Significance
Time Frame Event
c.1990
Southlands is acquired by George Hodgins of Century Industries Ltd..
c.1995
Boundary Bay Regional Park is expanded by 220 acres through the purchase of
select Southlands foreshore lands.
Cammidge House is donated by Century Group to Boundary Bay Regional Park and
c.1998
is restored in partnership with the Tsawwassen I Boundary Bay Lions Club. Century
Group and its project partners receive the Heritage Society of BC Outstanding
Achievement Award for their accomplishment.
c.1999
The Alexander! Gunn House is extensively restored.
2000s
c.2006
Century Group provides the land for the Boundary Bay Earthwise Garden and Farm
sustainable farming project. The farm features a one acre ecological demonstration
garden, 65 allotment plots, a two acre organic farm with year round production in a
hoop house, a nursery, and a farm store.
c.2012
The current proposal by Century Group for Southlands is initiated.
05 September 2012
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Southiands Statement of Significance
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Aerial photograph showing Boundary Bay community, English Bluff and Centennial Beach looking west, with a
portion of Southlands in the background c.1970.
(Delta Museum and Archives)
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Southiands Statement of Significance
Aerial photograph of
Southiands in 1930
(Delta Museum and Archives)
Aerial photograph of
Southlands in 1952
(Delta Museum and Archives)
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Southiands Statement of Significance
Current aerial of the Southlands property showing cultural I natural landscape features.
Boundary Bay Road following
the path of the original slough
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Original field patterns bisected
by ditches, hedegrows and
windbreaks
05 September 2012
Denise Cook Design
Alexander / Gunn House, barn,
and Earthwise garden I farm
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Southlands Statement of Significance
Historical I visual context
Threshing on the Gunn Farm, 1913
(Delta Museum and Archives)
Alexander /Gunn house, 1979
(Delta Museum and Archives)
Spetifore Farm viewed from 51st Street, showing house and barns, 1979
(Delta Museum and Archives)
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Southiands Statement of Significance
Statement of Significance:
Southiands Property
Tsawwassen, BC
Description
The Southlands Property is a 616-acre tract of agricultural land located in the community of
Tsawwassen, in South Delta, BC. The lands’ flat topography and grid-patterned agricultural fields
are bisected by hedgerows and windrows, and clusters of deciduous trees. Southlands is bordered
by 56th Street and adjacent fields to the west, the Canada I USA border to the south, Boundary Bay
Road, Boundary Bay Regional Park and the community of Boundary to the east, and the Beach
Grove Golf Course to the north.
Heritage Values
Southlands is important for its historical, agricultural and social values, particularly for its connection
to the Spetifore family, a well-known local farming family, its role as part of Delta’s historical
agricultural evolution, and its importance to the local community as a rural and agricultural property.
The lands are valued for their geographical situation and still-retained aspects of the natural
environment. 10,000 years ago, Delta did not exist: its lowland delta soils have been derived
primarily from river and stream sediments deposited after the last ice retreated from the region,
depositing sand, silt, and mud, which accumulated on the flats creating the flat delta landscape. This
landscape was bisected by sloughs and associated with wetlands, still seen today in its vegetation
and the curving roadway of Boundary Bay Road which follows an original slough.
The geopolitical nature of the place is seen in the adjacent Canada I USA boundary, established in
1846, which effectively hived off the southern part of the delta and created an artificial barrier to any
extension of South Delta’s farmlands to the south.
Southiands has become associated with the history and growth of farming and agricultural in South
Delta, particularly through the ownership and husbandry of the Spetifore family. Originally from Italy,
Sam Spetifore and his wife Rose acquired small timber lots (originally used for cordwood) upon their
arrival in 1922. The Spetifores continued to acquire land and build up their farming operation. The
farm had role in the local dairy industry, which was a large part of Delta’s agricultural history. While
historically primarily used for forage production and grazing, the farm currently produces potatoes, a
crop often associated with the Spetifore family. The lands are also an example of the consolidation of
farmlands into larger parcels with increased agricultural production and the adoption of new farming
technology.
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Southiands Statement of Significance
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The Spetifores contributed to the diversification of the population of Delta, being part of what an early
newspaper called a small “Italian colony” of immigrants in the area, some of whom were partners in
various agricultural ventures. This provides cultural value as part of the multi-cultural mix in Delta and
in the Lower Mainland and the province as a whole.
The buildings that remain on the lands are a reminder of the early settlement and homesteads of the
area, and the consolidation of land ownership over time. The lands are associated with a number of
early farming families, including Robert Alexander, David Gunn, John Guichon, Edwin Cammidge
and others. The Alexander I Gunn house and existing barn are physical representations of these
associations.
The geometry of Southlands’ still-visible early land and field patterns is based originally on the
Royal Engineers survey grid which divided the land into 160-acre quarter sections, forming the
geographical basis of the site’s agricultural tracts of land, and east-west I north-south road patterns.
The aesthetic value of the agrarian landscape includes features that were formed by necessity, and
which now help establish its current character and value. Ditches were required to drain the low-lying
delta land, and follow the original land divisions between original neighbouring farms. Hedgerows
consisting of native and naturalized plant have grown up naturally along the ditches and fencelines,
while rows of trees were originally planted as windbreaks. There are views south to Mount Baker and
north to the North Shore mountains, along with internal views across fields and along roadways.
Southlands has in the past, and continues to have, high community value due to its iconic history as
a touchstone in the debate over the increasing suburbanization of South Delta. In 1989 Tsawwassen
residents challenged the proposed development of the agricultural Southlands becoming part of the
longest public hearing in Canadian history in order to defeat it.
Community value is found in the current development proposal, which builds on a number of the
lands’ historic character-defining elements. The plan is to return 430 acres of the property for
agriculture, natural habitat, public open space and greenways. The proposed Market Square and the
presence of public agricultural land provides a direct connection to the lands’ history of production.
The broader planning philosophy of connecting community to agriculture has found a formative
foundation in the presence of the Earthwise Garden and farming operation.
The lands retain, and have the potential for increased recreational values, due in part to their
historical association with Boundary Bay Regional Park, created in 1995 from land owned by the
Spetifores, and by the rehabilitation and donation of the Cammidge House by Century Properties,
currently located in the park.
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Southiands Statement of Significance
Character-defining elements
Siting and Context
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Location just north of the Canada/USA boundary
Location adjacent to Boundary Bay Regional Park and Boundary Bay
Curved edge of the property along historical slough
Landscape Features
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Drainage ditches along roadways and marking internal field divisions
Hedgerows and fencerows that have grown up naturally along the ditches and fences
Earthwise Garden complex including gardens, greenhouses, farm fields and farm store
Views and vistas across agricultural fields and to the North Shore mountains
Wood and wire fencing
Architectural Features
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Alexander / Gunn House
Barn at the Earthwise Garden
Intangibles
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Local activities such as blackberrying along the hedgerows
Ability to purchase fresh local produce
View of migratory birds and their calls
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Southiands Statement of Significance
Site Photographs
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Southiands Statement of Significance
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Southlands Statement of Significance
Selected References
Canadian Bio Resources Consultants Ltd. Overview on Agricultural Capability for Spetifore Boundary
Bay Farm (draft). March 1975
Citizens’ Advisory Committee to South Delta Area Plan. Report to Council. 1998.
Clague, J.J. (editor.) 1989. Quaternary Geology of the Canadian Cordillera” in R.J. Fulton (editor.)
Quaternary Geology of Canada and Greenland. Geology of Canada No. 1, Geological Survey of
Canada, Ottawa ON.
Corporation of Delta Planning Department. Tsawwassen Area Plan. November 1992.
Correspondence between Tsawwassen Indian Band and Delta Municipal Council, September 1991.
Delta Optimist Newspaper.
Donald Luxton and Associates. Delta’s Rural Heritage: An Inventory. Corporation of Delta, 1999.
Houghland, Edward. Contested Land: The Spetifore / Southlands. Unpublished manuscript, Simon
Fraser University, n.d.
Masselink Environmental Design. Southiands Preliminary Agronomy Study. April 2008.
Massey, Douglas. “Delta’s Agricultural Past and Future.” Unpublished manuscript, Delta Museum and
Archives, 2007.
“No Future in Farming”, The Delta Optimist, 21 July 1971
Province of British Columbia. Royal Commission on Agriculture. Victoria: William H. CuIlen, 1914.
Smith, Brenda. “Agricultural History of Delta.” Unpublished manuscript. Delta Museum and Archives,
1996.
Szychter, Gwen. Chewassen, Tsawwassen or Chiltinmm: The Land Facing the Sea. Burnaby:
Hemlock Printers Ltd., 2007.
Taylor, Gordon. Delta’s Century of Progress. Cloverdale: Kerfoot-Holmes Printing Ltd., 1958.
Thom, Brian. “The Whalen Farm Site.” accessed at http://www.web.uvic.ca/—bthoml/Media/pdfs/
archaeology/whalen-new.htm
Yearwood-Lee, Emily. History of the Agricultural Land Reserve. Victoria: Legislative Library of British
Columbia.
Maps, Plans and Aerial Photographs.
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