An appeal of a court decision involving the partition of a large property on Savary Island has been dismissed.
The British Columbia Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling that divided the 330-acre parcel, owned by the Sahlin family of Washington State and the Nature Trust of BC (TNT), into four lots. The Sahlins and TNT each own an undivided 50 per cent interest in the property, which is the largest undivided lot on the island. The judge’s ruling awarded two non-contiguous lots to each party, a decision which TNT challenged.
The appeal decision was released on April 1. The Sahlins had previously applied to BC’s ministry of transportation and infrastructure to subdivide the property into the four lots.
Powell River Regional District directors passed a motion at the March regional board meeting to advise the ministry that the regional district does not support the four-lot subdivision. It would, however, support a two-lot subdivision which “maintains the ecological integrity of the land and where each lot is as large as possible.”
The motion contained 10 points which recommended, in part, that Vancouver Boulevard not be moved and that the trail system on the property should be limited to the best existing trails that will result in the least amount of disturbance to the dunes and sensitive ecosystems.
The motion also encouraged the Sahlin family, TNT, the provincial approving officer, the ministry of environment and the regional district to “work together to ensure a satisfactory arrangement is made for the protection of the dunes during the subdivision of the property.”
The provincial approving officer has the final decision on the subdivision application.
