A subdivision application may bring to an end years of effort to preserve intact a sensitive and endangered ecosystem on Savary Island.
The proposed subdivision divides District Lot 1375, which consists of 133 hectares (330 acres), into four sections of alternate ownership from east to west. The proposal follows the ruling of a BC Supreme Court judge to divide the property between the owners, the Sahlin family of Washington State and the Nature Trust (TNT) of British Columbia. TNT has appealed the ruling, but a decision on the appeal has not yet been released.
Kym Welstead, a species at risk biologist with the provincial government, wrote in a letter to Powell River Regional District that the property has one of the few remaining intact sand dune ecosystems in the province. “It is clear that this exceptional site on Savary Island is not only ecologically unique in BC and Canada, but is globally unique and should be preserved,” Welstead wrote.
The intact dune complex parallels the current prevailing winds and provides a unique opportunity for research, Welstead wrote. “The study of these dunes may unveil an interesting story around climatic changes over the past 10,000 years.”
The property also contains groves of Western red cedar, shore pine, Pacific yew and the rare plant communities of gumweed, red fescue and northern wormwood. It supports one of only eight populations of the endangered contorted-pod evening primrose (Camissonia contorta).
Representatives of the Savary Island Land Trust Society (SILTS) call the property “the heart of the island.” It is the largest groundwater recharge area on the island, which is only 450 hectares, yet is subdivided into 1,710 legal parcels. About 500 of these lots have been developed and the summer population on the island swells to about 2,000 people.
In a letter to the regional district, Doug Walker, president and CEO of TNT, wrote that its intention has always been to conserve the majority of the property for conservation values. “As such we have intended to work with the BC Ministry of Environment to manage the lands as a provincial park,” Walker wrote.
TNT intended to negotiate the purchase of the other 50 per cent interest from the Sahlin family. After eight years of talks and negotiations, the two owners were not able to reach an agreement. In 2008, the Sahlin family applied for the partition of the property, legal action which resulted in the judge concluding the property could be divided into four or eight lots. The Sahlin family applied to BC’s ministry of transportation and infrastructure for the four-lot, alternating ownership subdivision. The application also proposes that Vancouver Boulevard should be relocated to the north, away from an active dune system.
While there is some debate over how much authority the approving officer will have in light of the judge’s ruling, the application is moving ahead and referrals have gone out to other agencies. The ministry of environment, the ministry of natural resources operations, SILTS and TNT have all indicated they prefer a diagonal subdivision, one of two alternative subdivision plans TNT submitted during the legal action. This proposal would give TNT the area to the southwest of the old airstrip and the Sahlins would own the area northwest of the airstrip.
The regional district is one of the referral agencies and rural directors considered the application at the March 15 planning committee meeting. Liz Webster, SILTS executive director, and Paul Leighton, SILTS vice-chair, attended the meeting, as did Christopher Sahlin, Greg Umbach, a lawyer retained by the Sahlin family, and Wayne Schwandt, a real estate developer.
Leighton presented directors with a petition, which states “I am in favour of preserving DL 1375 ("the Trillium lands") on Savary Island for the benefit of present and future generations,” with 754 signatures on it. The regional district had received about 50 emails in support of SILTS’ position.
Webster asked directors to support the two-lot diagonal partition. “The directors have an opportunity to preserve something regionally, provincially, nationally and globally unique, or to support one private property owner’s destructive subdivision plan,” Webster said.
But Umbach said TNT had dropped the diagonal plan at court. Although the provincial government letters state a preference for the diagonal split, Umbach said he didn’t see any basis on which the recommendation is made. “I don’t see any studies,” he said. “I don’t see any comment from professionals, other than this boldface recommendation.”
Umbach also stressed the effort the Sahlins have undertaken to show that they have stewardship over the property. “The fact that the Sahlins are individuals and not a charitable organization has no bearing on whether they are just as capable of preserving this property,” he said. “I think that’s very important. They have a similar goal.”
Don Turner, regional district planner, noted in a report about the subdivision application that ideally, the property should be preserved as one large block in its natural state. “However, this is not realistic based on current land ownership and the recent court decision,” he wrote. “While it is tempting to focus solely on the ecological values of the property, it is important to balance public and private ownership interests. The issue then becomes how the private property owner’s interests can be accommodated while ensuring the environmental and ecological values of the property are protected.”
Turner had a number of recommendations about the subdivision and Patrick Brabazon, Electoral Area A director, accepted some of them and changed others in crafting a motion. It stated the regional district would prefer a two-lot subdivision, but didn’t weigh in on whether the dividing line should be diagonal or vertical. “I would suggest that if we stress the environmental integrity, the biggest lot possible, then we leave it up to the approving officer or, heaven forbid, the courts, if we end up back in the courts,” he said.
His motion also recommended that Vancouver Boulevard not be moved. “The damage has been done,” Brabazon said. “It was done a long time ago, the road’s there, leave it, don’t set up a new road and don’t create more damage.”
The motion also stated that only the best of the existing trails on the property be retained as right-of-way for public access to the foreshore.
Colin Palmer, board chair and Electoral Area C director, said he would like to see the regional district push the Sahlins, TNT and provincial officials into a room to hammer a resolution. “Is that as mad as it sounds?” he said. “Nobody is Solomon with this one. This is a rough thing to figure out.”
His suggestion was added to the motion, which is expected to be on the agenda for tomorrow’s (March 24) regional board meeting.
