Vancouver British Columbia - "It's going to tear a bit of my heart out if they bulldoze this," says 78-year-old George Pinch, nodding at his garden in Arbutus corridor.
 
"We're hoping we can get all our produce off this year, before they attack our gardens."
 
On Tuesday, as Pinch spoke to The Province beside his blooming dahlias and prolific raspberry plants, a few blocks south at West 60th Avenue and East Boulevard, a work crew from CP Rail was clearing vegetation along its long-unused rail tracks.
 
The company says the tracks must be made safe and returned to federal operating standards.
 
While neighbours looked on from a nearby parking lot, work crews didn't appear to cut into a well-known community garden at the intersection, which runs right up to the tracks.
 
CP Rail and the City of Vancouver have failed to narrow a reported $80-million gap between the price the city has offered and the amount the company is seeking for the land, which some residents have used for community gardens for decades.
 
The two parties have argued for about 10 years over the future of the narrow 11-kilometre strip of land through some of Vancouver's most valuable residential real estate.
 
Last week, after the company's 1 Aug 2014 deadline to clear the corridor, crews started to survey property lines.
 
Several days ago, "no trespassing" signs were also posted along the corridor.
 
"This week we are actually doing vegetation and brush clearing in certain sections that are quite overgrown along our tracks," CP spokeswoman Breanne Feigel said Tuesday.
 
"And our ask of the community is that, this is a construction area, there will be heavy machinery going through our property, and we are asking that people don't trespass, both for their safety and for our work crew's safety."
 
But gardeners like Pinch say they won't be picking their cabbages and tomatoes until they're ready to harvest, and they will pay no heed to trespassing warnings.
 
Pinch has hoed his garden which runs onto CP property for 30 years.
 
If CP sends the bulldozers, Pinch said he stands to lose a fence and some "very vigorous" raspberry plants that have yielded many pounds of fruit annually for his family.
 
He said he feels even more sorry for his gardening neighbour, a woman who will lose a rock wall constructed by her recently deceased husband, and beautiful rows of cabbage.
 
Cleta Brown, a gardener who is trained as a lawyer, says residents think CP's argument that land near the train tracks must be cleared for safety reasons is completely bogus.
 
Brown says the community's research shows pictures of trains passing gardens in the Arbutus corridor, and the issue was never raised before.
 
"The train and gardens have coexisted peacefully," Brown said.
 
"We think this is about negotiations with the city, and we think CP is bullying us."
 
Brown, who is running for a city council seat with the Green Party, said she thinks the city could do better for residents, too.
 
"This action by CP and the city is illustrative of how the citizens of Vancouver are left in the dark on important areas of their neighbourhoods," Brown said.
 
Both CP Rail and the City of Vancouver told The Province there is no comment to share on Arbutus corridor negotiations.
 
A city spokesman said the city's stance has not changed since Mayor Gregor Robertson sent a letter to residents in July.
 
The letter said Robertson and council have offered "fair market value" for the land, and they oppose CP's move to re-activate the railway, and want it to continue as a greenway, a walking and cycling route, and home for community gardens.

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