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Arbutus Corridor gardeners hope to stop CP

Despite a temporary reprieve in the clearing of gardens along the Arbutus Corridor, gardeners along the route are hoping they can stop further activity by Canadian Pacific bulldozers.
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George Pinch picks dahlias at his community garden along East Boulevard at Maple Street. Photo: Jennifer Gauthier

Despite a temporary reprieve in the clearing of gardens along the Arbutus Corridor, gardeners along the route are hoping they can stop further activity by Canadian Pacific bulldozers.

CP announced Wednesday it will stop clearing gardens and structures off its West Side rail route for the next two to three weeks while negotiations with the city on “the future of the Arbutus Corridor” are underway.

Garden activists planned a meeting Thursday night at the Kitsilano Community Centre and invited all gardeners with plots in Kitsilano, Marpole, Kerrisdale and Arbutus along the corridor to attend. The meeting was held after the Courier’s print deadline.

Victory Gardens organizer Kate Wilczak was “hopeless” before the temporary reprieve fearing her garden along East Boulevard in Kerrisdale could be destroyed by the end of the week. Wilczak said gardeners aren’t denying the land belongs to CP but questions if their evictions are necessary given the last train on the route ran in 2001.

Since Marpole gardens and structures on the corridor were first ripped out Aug. 14 by CP, gardeners along the route have penned a letter asking the city to intervene “by any legal means available, such as a stay or a legal suit, to halt the progress of CP’s bulldozers.”

Wilczak added Thursday’s meeting was to include brainstorming more political and legal actions, plus building an argument against CP’s plan to spray herbicides once it cleared the land.

“CP has confirmed several times that they’re going to be spray herbicides as soon as they clear the land,” she said. “We’re going to lose the 10 metres from the track, and once they spray their herbicides on those 10 metres, the drift will destroy the rest of our gardens and our soil health is ruined for maybe 10 years.”

CP spokeswoman Breanne Feigel cited an August letter last week to residents along Arbutus Corridor that the herbicides are “to prevent the re-growth of more stubborn weeds on our right of way… In Canada, CP uses herbicides approved by the Pest Management Regulatory Agency. The list of herbicides which may be used in B.C. is outlined in our approved Integrated Vegetation Management Plan.”

Before the announcement of the reprieve, gardeners further north of the Arbutus Corridor have noticed tractors inching closer to Arbutus Victory Gardens sandwiched between West 50th and 57th Avenues on the line.

“The last few days, CP has been working their way up the line,” said Victory Gardens’ patch owner Paul Kendal who has already moved some of his herbs, raspberries and arugula off CP land. “They’ve not been damaging gardens but they’ve been working their way up towards the gardens through the blackberries and other vegetation up on the side of the tracks.”

Kendal added CP has skipped a large section of the Kerrisdale community garden on 68th and East Boulevard where large plots and other structures like a tool shed could be ripped out. 

“They have a large vehicle that’s gone up and down the track two or three times to clear some rocks. They’re using their across and other equipment to remove the bushes and when they removed the bushes and the vegetation, there’s nothing left.”

Interview requests with both the city and CP on the details of their negotiations were denied with both saying the discussions are “confidential.” However, city staff have been in contact with Wilczak and the gardeners this week revealing they are negotiating the price of the land along the corridor. Based on city evaluations, the land is worth $20 million, which is $80 million short of CP’s $100 million asking price.

In late July, CP told residents they had to remove “encroachments” such as sheds, structures, storage containers and gardens on CP property by July 31.