City of Powell River’s committee of the whole is interested in exploring a recommendation to use the old golf course lands in Townsite as a land trust.
At the October 8 committee meeting, councillor George Doubt introduced a motion that staff be directed to work with up to two members of council and Townsite Ratepayers Association president Stephen Miller to explore the possible benefits of creating or partnering in a conservation land trust in order to preserve, protect and maintain the land known as the old golf course lands. The motion further specified that staff be directed to bring back a report discussing the exploratory findings on the various aspects of the land trust concept, including the possible sale of city land to the potential trust.
Doubt said the initiative came out of a presentation at a previous council meeting from Miller.
“He has a suggestion that the old golf course would be an excellent candidate for a conservation land trust,” said Doubt. “This could be sold from the city to a conservation trust. A conservation trust would have to be carefully set up, or there could be partnership with an existing trust.
“In order to do that we’re going to have to do some preparatory work to figure out the main questions that have to be asked.”
Doubt said he’d be willing to volunteer as one of the two council members because he is interested in the idea.
“If we work on it and put it together, we could come up with something positive that would work for this community,” added Doubt.
Doubt said Miller had articulated that it was an idea people in the community could get behind to preserve and conserve a piece of land that has a number of reasons why it is not really easily developable. He said it would contribute something positive to future generations.
Councillor Trina Isakson said there were two aspects to the proposal. One was, did she agree with this idea enough to find it worth pursuing? She said the second was whether it was worth prioritizing staff time above and beyond other priorities.
She said the first aspect had been met, because she is curious about the proposal, and that it is an interesting avenue to pursue.
“I’m generally interested in the protection of land as described by Stephen Miller’s presentation,” said Isakson. “It doesn’t meet the second criteria for me for the priorities of where I want staff to focus. At this point, I am more interested in them working on housing. The other area is increasing industrial use of lands. There have been a couple of lots that have been identified as potential industrial use.”
Councillor Jim Palm said when Miller made his presentation to councillors, he mentioned all the old golf course lands.
“That’s a very valuable piece of property that can be put to use in many ways for the city and help our coffers in the process,” said Palm. “I am of the same mind as councillor Isakson. I’d like some parameters around this. I don’t mind a report coming forward but I’d certainly like to see it tied to how it is going to benefit the city financially.”
Councillor Earl Almeida said he agreed that staff members have a lot on their plates but he is also curious about turning the property into a trust.
Mayor Ron Woznow said a number of years ago he chaired the Powell River Waterfront Development Corporation, and at that time, there had been an offer to purchase the old mill lands to put a fish processing operation on that property. He said it was a controversial project, but a conditional offer had been made.
“I got together with a group of residents and what we discussed was the importance of having residents and ratepayers associations from all of Powell River involved in this discussion,” said Woznow.
He said the fish processing operation offer fell through. He said the city, being a 50 per cent owner of the property at the time, did not want to pursue a sale for conservation purposes, as had been expressed by the group of interested residents and ratepayers.
“With regard to the information that exists, the very motivated individuals from around Powell River saw the value of a land trust,” said Woznow. He recommended the formation of a standing committee to look into the matter.
Councillor and committee chair Rob Southcott said the Townsite ratepayers had previously presented a vision for the old golf course lands, which included housing and conservation. He said the land is complex, having pipelines, riparian areas and other features, resulting in various development challenges. He said, however, he is interested in the economic potential for that land.
“That is a high priority for me,” said Southcott. “There has been a fair bit of interest over the years.”
Southcott made an amendment to Doubt’s motion to remove the word conservation. The amendment carried.
The committee then passed the main motion as amended to explore the prospect of a land trust on the old golf course lands.
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