An initiative by City of Powell River mayor Ron Woznow to prepare expressions of interest for the sale or lease of the old Civic Arena land near Willingdon Beach and former golf course lands in Townsite has failed.
At the April 17 city council meeting, Woznow brought forward motions that council direct staff to prepare and proceed with an expression of interest for the two properties. In his introduction, Woznow said the motions were looking for a statement of intent.
“It is not compelling council to make a decision on what will come forward,” said Woznow. “The rationale is quite simple. As you know from financial discussions, there is a strong likelihood that the tax increases required in 2026 are going to be the same or significantly higher than in 2025.”
Woznow said in the past, there have been different expressions of interest regarding the old golf course lands. He said he led a group that went to a real estate agent and presented the city with an offer to purchase the lands so they could create a community building foundation.
“At that time the city decided to do nothing,” said Woznow. “By having staff make public that we are interested in seeing expressions of interest, hopefully, before our term ends, we could actually have made a decision that could have a significant positive impact for all the residents of Powell River.”
Councillor George Doubt said he had previously made a motion that staff be directed to work with up to two members of council and Townsite resident Stephen Miller to explore the possible benefits of creating or partnering in a conservation land trust in order to preserve, protect and maintain the lands known as the old golf course lands. The motion further stated 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.
“A bunch of things have happened since then,” said Doubt. “One was an assertion by staff that we should get together and work on terms of reference for that group. We got together in February with staff to talk about the terms of reference and the outcome of that discussion was that staff were going to present a report to council about this particular motion. I haven’t seen that report yet.”
Doubt said he did not think it was appropriate to talk about sale or lease of the land without the report from staff about what they think are the pluses and minuses of a land trust or conservation of those lands.
“Right now, I’m not willing to support the motion that’s on the floor,” said Doubt.
Councillor Cindy Elliott said there had been a planning process regarding the Townsite property. She said there had not been a conclusion to that planning process.
“I’d like to see community input and a zoning process prior to offering up any kind of expressions of interest to guide prospective folks who would submit an application as to what the community wants to see there,” said Elliott. “Responsibly, you can’t put out expressions of interest if you have no intent of following through. That’s simply not fair for people who submit their hard work in putting expressions together.
“We have planning processes in the works, including updating of the official community plan, so that we can provide some sort of input from the community as to what a plan would look like. I am not in favour of moving forward at this time because we have to put in some planning aspects to guide that process.”
Woznow said the city had been receiving input for more than 30 years. He said a previous council did, in fact, accept an offer for the sale of the old golf course lands. That’s where a fish processing plant was going to go, he added.
“That was the time when a number of us from various communities within Powell River put in another offer at the same time,” said Woznow. “When the owners of a potential fish processing plant backed away, we put in another offer and at that time the city said it wanted to get expressions of interest. There’s been a 30-year track record of getting public opinion on how the lands could be used.”
When put to a vote, Woznow and councillor Jim Palm were in favour of the motion to sell or lease the old golf course lands and the rest of council was opposed, so the motion failed.
During debate on the old arena lands, Elliott raised a point of order, saying normally during debate, there is a speaker’s list. She said during the debate, Woznow was speaking whenever he wanted and the rest of council members had to wait for their turn. She said she would like Woznow to put himself on the speaker’s list if he was speaking to the debate at hand.
The matter went to interim corporate officer Stephen Fleming, who consulted council’s procedure bylaw and provided details.
Woznow, after the consultation with Fleming, ruled that the presiding chair has the option to determine who speaks.
Doubt challenged Woznow’s ruling on Elliott’s point of order, indicating that the mayor was responding to the comments of everybody else.
“I challenge that,” said Doubt. “It’s appropriate in the rules of order that each person comment one time, and the mayor frequently waits until the end of that discussion to make his input. I don’t agree with the mayor’s ruling. Let’s put it to the group.”
When the matter was put to council, Palm supported the mayor’s ruling, with the rest of council opposed, so the mayor’s ruling was not sustained.
During the subsequent debate on the old arena lands, councillors, similar to the discussion on the old golf course lands, were opposed to the prospect of sale or lease of the property. When the motion went to a vote, Woznow and Palm were in support of the motion, with the rest of council opposed, so the motion failed.
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