Cultivation versus conservation

Norfolk farmer Richard Bridgeman's desire to sell his land for cropping and hold back a small severance rubs Nature Conservancy wrong way

BY BERNARD TOBIN

Sitting at a table in his home in Walsingham, southwest Haldimand-Norfolk region, Richard Bridgeman stares through the window at the two-inch corn seedlings emerging in the field behind the house. The land is his, but the corn belongs to neighbouring farmer Ross Kenline.

In his chair, Bridgeman rotates his head and shoulders, hoping to relieve some of the numbing sensation that pinched nerves send through his lower back and right leg. "I can't sit too long, I just squirm," he says. "The doctors say I'm done."

When Bridgeman bought his 110-acre farm, which includes a 45-acre bush lot filled with valuable red and white oak, ash and maple in 1988, he and his wife Jolynn, a bus driver for the Norfolk school board, had planned to crop the 60 acres of sandy loam while Richard continued at his job at Stelco in Hamilton, where he worked at the blast furnace. But about a year after buying the farm Bridgeman was seriously injured on the job, herniating a disc in his lower back. With help from his family he managed to get his crop off that fall, and 18 months later headed back to work. He would later retrain as a welder to try to relieve the strain from his ailing back, but by November 1997, it was time to call it quits. "It continued to get worse, to the point where I'm no longer able to function on the job," says Bridgeman. Today, he collects compensation - "other pension plans have not yet kicked in."

Spring of 1993 was the last time he put in all his own crops. "I was tired of getting everybody to help me, so I started renting it out," he says. Bridgeman, a 43-year-old father of five, had contemplated selling the farm, but he and Jolynn didn't want to leave. Selling, however, became a necessity last year when the Norfolk school board, as part of provincial education reform, sold its bus fleet and contracted with a private company.

Walking through the house, Jolynn apologizes for the lack of finish on the exterior and some of the interior rooms; renovations were underway when she heard that despite her 22 years of experience, the bus company taking over the school board contract decided not to hire her. "We had to put everything on hold," she says.

Richard Bridgeman says he doesn't want to leave the farm, and he won't have to if he accepts an offer to sell all of his property except for the house and 3.5 acres to neighbouring farmer Ross Kenline, who says he'll keep the cleared land in crops and manage the bush lot. But that deal could be jeopardized later this month if the Ontario Municipal Board rules in favour of Nature Conservancy Canada, which has launched an appeal of the 3.5-acre severance the Township of Norfolk has granted the Bridgemans. The Nature Conservancy, which bills itself as "the only national charity dedicated to preserving ecologically significant natural areas, places of special beauty and educational interest, through outright purchase, land donation and conservation agreement," has also offered to buy the property.

Bridgeman's farm, specifically the bush lot, is part of the Carolinian forest region of southern Ontario, an area that features more than 2,000 plant species; more than 70 different kinds of trees; 400 species of birds; and numerous reptiles. Conserving the area is part of the mandate of a host of organizations.

The Nature Conservancy owns 100 acres - a formerly productive farm that has been allowed to revert to sumac and other brush - adjacent to the Bridgeman property. The Conservancy had offered to buy Bridgeman's property, including the house, for $175,000. But when Bridgeman told the Conservancy that the offer was too low and that he intended to sever and sell the property to Kenline, it launched the appeal.

When contacted by Farm & Country, Conservancy Ontario representative William Sargant said, "the Conservancy has a policy of not commenting on matters like this while they're under consideration."

The property "is of interest to the conservation community. That's all I can say," Sargant said.

Before making an offer on the property, the Bridgemans say Sargant had visited to discuss the matter and offered to assist them in obtaining a severance. But when the Conservancy tendered its final offer it was for $175,000 and it was for the whole farm, even though Bridgeman had agreed to "only sell everything but the house and barn," he says. Bridgeman admits he earlier had offered to sell the whole farm to the Conservancy, but it didn't come near his $325,000 asking price.

A letter written by the Conservancy to Bridgeman Sept. 30, 1998 states that the Conservancy and its affiliated organizations "would prefer to secure the entire property." The letter notes that depending on Bridgeman's response, "we could pursue the severance option as discussed if that more fully reflects your interests."

While the Conservancy dithered, Bridgeman decided to go with the Kenline offer, which he considered the best deal. Kenline has offered him $115,000 for the bush lot and the farmland. Bridgeman would get the house and the 3.5 acres plus a lifetime lease on another seven acres.

"The barn's not in great shape, but you figure the barn at $30,000," says Bridgeman. "I get 10 acres. Land down here is now selling at close to $3,000 an acre. Even at $2,000, the barn and the land add up to $50,000. The Conservancy had the house and one acre appraised at $115,000. That's still well above the $250,000 mark and they're coming in at $175,000.... They're getting it pretty cheap," Bridgeman says, adding that though the Conservancy has the right to offer whatever they want for the property, he should have the right to turn them down.

If he loses the OMB hearing he still has to sell the farm. And without a severance he would be forced to sell his home with the property. "If I lose I'll try to work out a deal with Mr. Kenline, but he doesn't really want the house," Bridgeman says. "If I win, I continue to live here and raise my family."

Either way, the Nature Conservancy is not going to get his farm, Bridgeman says: "Over my dead body."

Township and federation offer support

The focus in the Bridgeman case now shifts to the OMB severance appeal set for June 22.

In the written appeal, the Nature Conservancy says the severance will have a negative impact on an area designated of natural and scientific interest by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and as a significant biotic area in the official plans of the Haldimand-Norfolk region and the Township of Norfolk.

The Conservancy also argues that the severance does not conform to the consent policies for residential severances in agriculture areas, and that the new lot will not have access to a permanently maintained public road.

The Conservancy retains the right to bring forward other arguments and is likely to point out that the Norfolk township planning department recommended that the severance be denied because Bridgeman's "farm operation is not considered an existing viable farm operation."

Norfolk township planner Jim McIntosh says a viable farm operation is "not defined as such in the plans, but there's sort of a general understanding" that according to "the old Farm Credit definition" a viable farm is "able to sustain a farm family, repay the debts, and so on."

McIntosh says that was the measure used to distinguish between "a real farmer and somebody...who just happens to own farmland." The economic viability would then depend on the size of the farm and the type of crop grown, says McIntosh. "If it were corn and beans it would require a fairly large acreage. If were ginseng or greenhouses or something it would require a much smaller acreage."

"How about tobacco?" asks Bev Maguire, chairman of the Norfolk Township's committee of adjustment, which approved the Bridgeman severance. "He grows tobacco there. When you grow tobacco, you don't need large acreages."

Maguire says the five-member committee approved the severance unanimously.

"It certainly won't be viable after [the Conservancy] gets hold of it," says Maguire, who notes that agriculture severances are quite common in the township. "Appeals are not a frequent occurrence," he says. "We get the odd one."

The Norfolk Federation of Agriculture cannot be a party to or submit information to an OMB hearing, but it has drafted a letter in support of Bridgeman.

In the letter, the federation's properties committee chairman Barrie Anderson argues that Bridgeman should qualify for a severance because "he meets the intent of the consent polices for a severance for residential purposes in an agricultural area."

Anderson points out that Bridgeman was born and raised on a farm in Norfolk county and has been active in farming throughout his entire life "until the condition of his health made it impossible."

Anderson says that Bridgeman's operation qualifies as a farm business under the province's Farm Business Registration program and he has had a valid farm business registration number since the program began in 1994. He also notes that the Conservancy's claim that the severed lot would not have access to a public road should not be an issue.

"If the road superintendent had any concern about this issue it would have been noted in the report given to the committee of adjustment....The report indicates that 'no comment' was made by [the] road superintendent," Anderson says in the letter. Like Maguire, Anderson notes that the soil and climatic conditions in Norfolk county make it ideal for growing small acreage crops. "A 50-acre tobacco farm is a viable farm operation."

The fact that Bridgeman worked off the farm should have no bearing on the issue, because Norfolk's official plan says a reasonable portion of input to the farm operation from off-farm income is acceptable, Anderson says. -Bernard Tobin

© copyright 1999 Agricultural Publishing Company Limited.


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