Pilot Urban Farm in the City of North Vancouver

Wanted: Volunteers

2010-06-30T10:58:00.000-07:00

Greenskins Lab team is seeking volunteers to erect farm fence at Loutet Park Farm. Please contact Nicci Theroux at info@greenskinslab.sala.ubc.ca for further information on how to get involved.

Date: September 2010. Exact date to be announced. Watch this space.

Environmental Soil Sampling Report Received

2010-06-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

Based on the results of the soil testing, we are pleased to announce that our area for the urban farm is free from contaminants.
We have the green light to proceed to the next stage of planning for the LOUTET PARK URBAN FARM!

Loutet Park Urban Agriculture: Next Steps

2009-12-13T17:49:00.000-08:00

File: 4230-18-02
Report: Streetscape Planner, Engineering, Parks & Environment, December 1, 2009.

Moved by Councillor Trentadue, seconded by Councillor Keating

PURSUANT to the report of the Streetscape Planner, Engineering, Parks & Environment, dated December 1, 2009, entitled “Loutet Park Urban Agriculture: Next Steps”:
THAT UBC Greenskins Lab proceed with fund raising and the development of an implementation plan for the proposed urban agriculture pilot project in an underutilized portion of Loutet Park;
AND THAT staff work with UBC Greenskins Lab to coordinate the implementation of the pilot project and that Council be kept informed of the process.

Moved by Councillor Bookham, seconded by Councillor Clark

THAT consideration of the motion be deferred until the necessary soil tests have been completed and a report back from staff has been received.

Organizational Changes

2009-12-13T17:20:00.000-08:00

Date: 2009/12/07

Karen Morton has stepped down from her role as project coordinator in order to more fully focus on the career and education objectives she has set for herself. It has been a pleasure to work with her throughout the approval process and she has certainly driven this project with her vision and enthusiasm. The team wishes her all the best and great success with her future endeavours!

For administrative reasons Loutet Park Farm pilot project will no longer be part of the EcoUrbia Network initiatives. For the time being, Greenskins Lab is taking over but is in the process of finding an appropriate local umbrella organization to host this project.

Presentation at the City of North Vancouver Open House

2009-10-28T16:58:00.000-07:00

Loutet Park Open House!
Tuesday october 27th, 6:30-8:30pm
(brooksbank school gym, 980 e 13th Street).

[Download boards pdfs]

[Download presentation pdf]

"Urban Agriculture Pilot, City of North Vancouver", Sitelines October 2009, BC Society Of Landscape Architects

2009-10-20T00:18:00.000-07:00

Daniel Roehr and Isabel Kunigk
Published: July 25, 2009

Local food production initiatives and awareness in the Vancouver area, though intensified by the beginning of the financial crisis in September 2008, did not arise only from the economic fallout. They have been part of Vancouver since the early 1970s. Since then, the greater Vancouver area has seen the creation of community gardens, demonstrations gardens, organic farmer’s markets and has, over the last thirty years, experienced a dramatic increase in the availability of more uncommon vegetable and fruit varieties due to the demands of a continuously growing international community with diverse eating habits.

[Download Sitelines article]

CNV Council Approves Urban Agriculture - Loutet Park Open House

2009-10-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

Loutet Park Open House!
Tuesday october 27th, 6:30-8:30pm
(brooksbank school gym, 980 e 13th Street).

CNV council has given the green light to proceeding with consultation around the development of the first urban farm in North Vancouver. The potential to conduct professional agriculture on public land is a new concept that has been proposed by Daniel Roehr of GreenSkins Lab, a Landscape Architecture group at the University of British Columbia. Come out on Tuesday October 27th for more information and to provide support or feedback. If you can’t make it out in person, sent thoughts and feedback to Alex Kurnicki (akurnicki@cnv.org) 604-983-7394.

[Read More]

City Green-lights New Urban Farm

2009-09-28T08:19:00.000-07:00

Benjamin Alldritt, North Shore News
Published: Sunday, September 27, 2009

The City of North Vancouver will move ahead with an urban agriculture project, the first of its kind on the North Shore.

Council voted unanimously Monday to begin public consultation regarding a potential farm in the southern portion of Loutet Park. If it proceeds, a U.B.C.-led team will develop and operate the farm, at no cost to the city, for a five-year trial.

The concept of urban agriculture was first presented to council in June. Daniel Roehr, assistant professor at U.B.C.'s school of architecture, said growing crops in urban areas would help begin to address food security issues and reduce the transportation costs and emissions associated with distant food sources. Urban agriculture is distinct from community gardening because of its intensive, yield-oriented approach.

[Read More]

© North Shore News 2009

Urban Agriculture on City Owned Land

2009-09-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

Date: September 21, 2009

Urban Agriculture on City Owned Land – File: 4230-18-02

Moved by Councillor Keating, seconded by Councillor Fearnley

PURSUANT to the report of the Streetscape Planner, Engineering, Parks & Environment, dated September 16, 2009, entitled “Urban Agriculture on City Owned Land”:

THAT staff proceed with a public consultation process regarding the proposed siting of an urban agriculture pilot project in an underutilized portion of Loutet Park, and report back to Council with the results;

AND THAT the proposed pilot project inform the long-term implications of a land-use policy involving urban agriculture on public land.

Presentation to the City Council of North Vancouver

2009-09-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

Date: June 1, 2009

Re: Municipal Supported Agriculture – File: 3325-01

Mr. Daniel Roehr, Founder, Greenskins Lab and Assistant Professor at University of British Columbia, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), gave a PowerPoint presentation regarding “Pilot Project for Urban Farming”.

North Van city considers plan for farms on boulevards

2009-09-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

UBC lab is 'trying to create something that doesn't exist anywhere else'

Kim Davis, Special to the SUN
Published: July 25, 2009

From the Victory gardens of the last century's two world wars to the community-garden movement started in the 1970s, urban agriculture has played an important role in the security of the food supply.

Metro Vancouver is no stranger to the urban harvest. According to City Farmer, 44 per cent of Vancouver's population is involved in some form of urban agriculture. When Vancouver city council passed a motion in 2006 to encourage the creation of 2,010 new garden plots by Jan. 1, 2010, a legacy for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, there were 950 plots in 18 gardens.

Today, there are more than 1,700 new plots in more than 40 community, or resident-shared, gardens. There are also 20 farmers' markets.

Unlike gardens grown for and by private gardeners, gardens grown for commercial purposes have historically met resistance by urban authorities and planners. Considered relics of a rural past, they were either prohibited or severely restricted.

Times are changing. Environmental degradation, dwindling oil resources and increasing concerns over urban food security are among the causes.

Locally a proposal from the University of B.C.'s Greenskins Lab to the City of North Vancouver could soon bring your local farmer to a boulevard near you.

[Read More]
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Kim Davis is a Vancouver environmental affairs consultant. E-mail: redkimwrites@gmail.com

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

UBC planting seeds of urban agriculture

2009-09-17T07:41:00.000-07:00

Benjamin Alldritt, North Shore News
Published: Sunday, June 07, 2009

Could the City of North Vancouver be home to working farms?

That's the question a team of University of British Columbia researchers posed to city council June 1.

Daniel Roehr, an assistant professor at UBC's school of architecture, presented council with an outline for an urban agriculture pilot project within the city.