A recommendation for qathet Regional District staff to look into the acquisition of Inland Lake Provincial Park failed at a committee of the whole meeting.
On September 6, Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne brought forward a recommendation that the regional board direct staff to provide a report on the procedure and feasibility of acquiring the park for the regional parks service.
Gisborne said the regional district now has its parks acquisition policy to consider the pros and cons if there is a park available in the region.
“I’m sure you’ve all been up to speed on the issues going on at Inland Lake and I find it incredibly frustrating that this community built a world-class, wheelchair accessible trail that goes around Inland Lake and handed it over to the province in the hopes they would look after it,” said Gisborne. “Speaking to some locals, they can’t even walk down the trail because it’s having all kinds of issues.
“The motion before us is simply asking for a staff report on the procedure and feasibility. My initial thoughts are, I don’t think the regional district should take on the whole park, which is a very big piece of land, but when it comes to the campground and the trail, which is what most people use, those are a real local service.”
Gisborne said that in talking to some volunteers in the community, they have been frustrated dealing with BC Parks not wanting to work on the trail.
“They don’t want to be slaves to BC Parks,” said Gisborne.
He said if a staff report seems favourable for the acquisition of the park, a request could be made to bring the infrastructure up to standard, and if they can’t, to have BC Parks provide the funding so the regional district could ensure it was up to standard.
City of Powell River director Cindy Elliott asked if this would be a large workload item for staff.
Chief administrative officer Al Radke said the staff report could not be fitted into the 2023 work schedule but it would be an opportunity to test drive the new parks policy strategy. He said it would have to be moved into the 2024 work schedule.
Electoral Area C director and board chair Clay Brander said he was not in support of the recommendation.
“The campgrounds we have are subsidized by taxpayers,” said Brander. “Right now we have a campground and park out there that is being paid for by the province, which has much deeper pockets than we do,” said Brander. “I don’t see much point in taking it over right now. Complaints are generally not with the park itself, it’s with the trail. The best way to go is to increase advocacy for repairing the trail.”
Brander said he had met with a BC Parks representative and the cost for repairs and maintenance at Inland Lake was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Brander said the representative did mention volunteer opportunities and that was maybe a way locals could go in and contribute to bringing the trail up to standard.
Electoral Area D director and committee chair Sandy McCormick said she echoed Brander’s thoughts.
“When I reviewed the park acquisition policy we’ve adopted, I saw things like sites that have heritage values or ecological risks related to them,” said McCormick. “I didn’t anywhere on that list see provincial parks as one of the things we would look at acquiring. It’s outside the existing policy.
“I don’t believe we have the financial resources, given the magnitude of the disrepair, to take it over. We do have capacity to write a letter to the government and to the minister, saying we’re very concerned about this. That response is something I would welcome. I can’t support the recommendation, as much as I know the park is in disrepair. I would like to see it fixed up but I don’t believe it is our responsibility to do that.”
The motion for the staff report did not pass, with three directors in favour and four opposed.
The committee, however, recommended sending a letter to the province, expressing concern about the condition of the trail at Inland Lake park. The motion carried.
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