Qualicum Beach residents were able to share their opinions on Monday regarding the town’s potential\u00a0purchase of the Eaglecrest Golf Course for\u00a0$8.5 million.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of residents turned out\u00a0for a public hearing that went on for hours at the Qualicum Beach Civic Centre on Oct. 6.<\/p>\n
If the town decides to buy the golf course, it would bring its 105 acres under public ownership and the town says the\u00a0acquisition would be funded through the sale of up to 10 per cent of the land for housing, as well as through reserves.<\/p>\n
According to Luke Sales, the town’s director of planning, no referendum is required because the town does not need to borrow money for the purchase. He added the intention is for the town to lease the course to a third party operator, and act as a landlord.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe decision of how exactly lands get developed is going to be the subject of future public consultations,\u201d Sales said.<\/p>\n
The purchase contract is conditional on the adoption of amendments to the Official Community Plan and zoning bylaw, which if passed will change land use from parks and recreation to housing.<\/p>\n
A so-far anonymous donor has offered $2.125 million toward\u00a0the purchase,\u00a0with a requirement for long-term preservation of approximately 40 acres of parkland.<\/p>\n
Dozens of residents spoke at the hearing, with many clearly against the purchase, some in favour and others who were interested in the idea, but with reservations.<\/p>\n
Concerns were wide-ranging and\u00a0included home\u00a0values declining; the change of character to an established neighbourhood;\u00a0question of financial viability; opposition to four-to-six-storey buildings in that location; loss of trees and wildlife habitat; opposition to a proposed corner store and the short deadline to decide before Nov. 1.<\/p>\n
Others expressed their opposition to the town acting as a developer and a regulator.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think you can do both,\u201d said Jim Bennett.<\/p>\n
Ron Everard spoke in favour of the purchase, and said public ownership is preferable to private ownership, since the town will have more input on what happens.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a once-in-a-generation opportunity,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what more time would give us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susan Blacklin said infrastructure needs in the Eaglecrest neighbourhood,\u00a0such as replacement of\u00a0asbestos cement pipes and a storm main replacement, should come first.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“You are proceeding with a major land purchase while a critical public health and infrastructure issue remains unaddressed,” Blacklin said. “Surely both of these issues should be resolved before planning further development for this land.”<\/p>\n
Bill Scott, Eaglecrest Residents Association president,\u00a0told council he thinks the process is moving “too fast” and added the town could increase density by rezoning for R1, rather than R20, which he added will change the\u00a0\u201cform and character\u201d of the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n
According to a report by senior planner\u00a0Rebecca Augustyn, the land purchase is\u00a0an “opportunity for the town to secure long-term public control of a significant landholding,\u00a0balancing community priorities such as recreation, housing, environmental stewardship\u00a0and infrastructure renewal.”<\/p>\n
Prior to development of the land parcels, future public consultation and council decisions will be needed to refine the land use,\u00a0Augustyn’s report said.<\/p>\n
A park\u00a0management plan will be developed if and when the purchase goes ahead, according to Sales.<\/p>\n
The donor asked to remain anonymous until the town proceeds with the purchase, Sales said,\u00a0adding\u00a0the donor has no ownership stake or business interest in the land.<\/p>\n
The town has until Nov. 1 to decide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Qualicum Beach residents were able to share their opinions on Monday regarding the town’s potential\u00a0purchase of the Eaglecrest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,98464,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-199393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-qualicum-beachpublic-hearing","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}