For those in the District of Maple Ridge who don't want to see their community's farmland destroyed, the new Golden Ears Bridge is turning out to be a curse, not a commuter solution.

The toll bridge, which crosses the Fraser River just east of Barnston Island, recently marked its first anniversary. But nothing was said during the hoopla about how the crossing is now putting significant development pressures on Maple Ridge's agricultural lands, which are among the oldest and most productive in B.C.

"There's no doubt the Golden Ears Bridge is changing our community, and if anyone thinks it was built for commuters, it wasn't," says Diana Williams, who is president of the Pitt Polder Preservation Society. "It was built for developers."

Her community organization is at the forefront of public opposition to a proposal by owners of a 62-hectare (152-acre) parcel at 203rd Street and Golden Ears Way that is currently part of the Agricultural Land Reserve.

The property is owned by the Pelton family, who, for about 40 years, ran a tree-seedling nursery on it and now want it removed from the ALR in order to establish a light-industrial park.

To that end, they've spiced up their public "pitch" by offering benefits that include money for drainage to surrounding farms to improve productivity, an agri-product terminal for farm-product sales, community garden plots, multi-use trails and sports fields.

The biggest carrot, of course, is a promise to Maple Ridge council of approximately 1,600 jobs the project proponents say would be created in an industrial park, although no specifics have been disclosed.

Not surprisingly, the proponents have majority support from Maple Ridge council, which, say Williams and others, is clearly pro-development. It's also on the public record that the Pelton family has been a generous contributor to Maple Ridge Mayor Ernie Daykin's political campaigns and that he's a longtime family friend.

The mayor himself has stated in public that the Pelton family support and friendship in no way influences his decisions at city hall.

Regardless, Maple Ridge council voted 5-2 to forward the Pelton application to the Agricultural Land Commission for its consideration this month and they took the step without seeking formal public input on the proposal.

Consequently, groups like the Pitt Polder Preservation Society are now appealing for the ALC to reject the proposal.

"If this land is removed from the ALR, we can say goodbye to virtually all farmland in Maple Ridge, because the rest will then fall like dominoes," Williams says.

Farmland advocate and ALR cofounder Harold Steves, a long-serving Richmond councillor, agrees.

"The Maple Ridge council is behaving just like our council did years ago just before most of Richmond's farmland was destroyed," he told me yesterday. "And the developers lobby and support local candidates until they get a majority on council."

Steves also says that both the Golden Ears Bridge and the South Fraser Perimeter Road -- the trucking freeway from Deltaport that's now in preliminary construction -- converge near Barnston Island and this is opening Maple Ridge to port-related industrial development.

"If Maple Ridge isn't careful, it'll end up like Richmond," he adds.