Give us time Gabriolans advise Dr. Rooks
Tuesday, June 7 2005
About 100 people attended the long-awaited three-hour information meeting on the proposal to transfer four residential densities from Cox Community Park in return for community parks and trails, held Wednesday evening, June 1st.
For some it is a dream come true, for others, a worst nightmare, and for everyone on the island, a Rubik's Cube, complex, controversial, and a long way from being solved.
The meeting was divided in two, the first half chaired by Gail Lund, Gabriola's Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) director, focusing on information and opinion from the public that she needed before recommending the density proposal, or not, to the RDN Board.
After a 2001 referendum, residents purchased 107 acres of community park on Taylor Bay Road; 87 acres inland along the road created four densities, one for every 20 acres, which the Official Community Plan requires be transferred to Resource land.
The developer Dr. Bob Rooks, through his Potlatch Ventures, responded to an ad in the Sounder. In exchange for the densities he is offering: lot 3, a 1.37 acre waterfront parcel located at the ferry terminal at the corner of Taylor Bay and North roads, the land seen from the ferry line-up; a ten-meter wide trail from the lot to the entrance of Descanso Bay Regional Park; and a six-meter wide trail from the top of Lockinvar east into the Forestry zone above Firehall #1 to Spruce Road, near the entrance to Cox Community Park.
Lund had reported that the monetary value of the four densities was comparable to an 80-acre forest, about $70,000 to 80,000 per density. She said she is comfortable supporting the "sale," saving the "entrance to Gabriola," relieving congestion in the area; and legitimizing the popular trail to Spruce, heavily utilized, although on private property.
In the second half of the meeting Rooks and his agent, surveyor Brian Henning, offered much more: including rock removal for ferry line-up safety along Taylor Bay Road, a second turnaround, an agreement for the fire protection hydrant; a public road from Church Street followed by emergency access to Spruce Road from Church Street; a 60-acre public forest wilderness area between the two roadways and a developed helicopter landing for Medivac purposes adjacent to Church Street.
The meeting was complicated by the fact that the audience hadn't heard the proposal until half way through, further complicated by the presence of local trustees which disallowed any mention of the proposed Borsuk density transfer, complex to start with, it took on dimensions of the famed "puzzle inside a riddle, wrapped in an enigma."
"Interesting and frustrating," is how Henning described the process, already a year in the making, involving the RDN in the density transfer, the Islands Trust in land use bylaws and the province in subdivision approval, as well as providing for public input even before an application is made.
"Like buying the front end of a horse and coming back to purchase the rest at a later date," is how one speaker described it.Rooks said his motivation was philanthropic. "I have no hidden agenda. I intend to live here and after listening to concerns in the community about what Gabriola needs, I'm trying to do what is right." Although there is no mechanism to provide for much of the proposal he said he would sign an agreement, and if the community didn't like the proposal he would take another route. In that case all bets would be off. This is a package deal, take it or leave it.
His banker Charles Roach said he was being "overly generous," but some in the crowd weren't buying that. "Money speaks," said one. Others cautioned the community to hold out for more, to wait until the densities skyrocketed in value. Some said scrap the densities, altogether.
"Let's buy the land ourselves," a few suggested. "That would take a million bake sales and a rise in taxes," another countered. "The ferry line-up and emergency access are government responsibilities, not up to private individuals," insisted one speaker, despite being told repeatedly that the community had failed after years of trying to resolve both problems.
"Septic fields," "slippery slopes," "screwy," "handcuffs," and "straitjackets," "manipulation," "a lovely bit of anarchy," "looking for leverage in terrible situations," were some of the terms tossed about. One lady said she was both "excited and heart-broken" by the proposal.Others, most notably Kerry Marcus, president of Gabriola Lands and Trails Trust, pointed out a potential connectivity to the proposed 707 wilderness recreation zone, public road access from a new 60 acre public forest parcel, though Tin Can Alley, across North and Tansy Roads, a trail route from a park at the ferry, connected to Descanso Regional and Cox Community Parks, a foot path along Taylor Bay Road, to River Place, off Spruce to Tin Can Alley, all the way through to Coats Rd, half way down the island!
In the end there was widespread agreement on something: more time and information is needed. Coming up in the Sounder, the proposal, as clear and detailed, as possible.
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