A reserve fund will be set up for parkland acquisition for qathet Regional District.
At the regional district board meeting on Thursday, August 22, directors carried a motion to create the fund.
The motion included the board directing staff to establish a statutory reserve fund in order to provide a specific repository for funds earmarked for parkland acquisition; that the board direct staff to write a report on potential grants to boost the parkland acquisition fund; and that the board direct staff to write a report on the process to establish a parcel tax or tax rate for the purpose of funding the parkland acquisition fund.
At the meeting, Electoral Area C director Clay Brander said the initiative was a long time coming.
City director George Doubt said he would be voting against the motion, not because he was not in favour of acquiring parkland, but because he thought the regional district was going about this in the wrong way.
“I’m aware there is a parkland acquisition strategy, but having said that, if we are going to go about parkland acquisition, setting up a reserve for that, it would be wise to spend some time setting up policy on how to deal with the cost of parkland that we might acquire, before we set up a fund to put the tax money into,” said Doubt.
He added that if a parcel tax of $12 per property was initiated, on his own regional district property tax, it would mean a seven per cent tax increase for regional taxes.
“It needs more time, I think it needs more thought and I’d like to have some input into a parks acquisition policy before we talk about places to put the money,” said Doubt. “I’d like to see more parks but I’d like to spend more time talking about the policies on how we deal with the other costs that come with parks, other than the acquisition, which is the development, the maintenance and the ongoing operation of those parks.”
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne agreed that more parks are desirable but he doesn’t think it is something that should be rushed into. He recommended a motion to postpone the matter to the September committee of the whole meeting but it did not receive a seconder.
Electoral Area D director Sandy McCormick said the parkland matter has been on the regional district’s books since 2010. A parkland acquisition strategy has been endorsed by the regional board.
“We’ve been at this for a very long time; establishing a fund just opens a line in the budget that money could be contributed to,” said McCormick. “This has been around for a very long time and it is long overdue that this board take action on acquiring parks. Parkland is important. I don’t believe we should be delaying this. We should establish the fund now. There may not be any money in it for a while but that is okay. Let’s get the ball rolling and let’s move forward.”
Gisborne said four of the seven regional directors are relatively new. He said he did not see the need for a rush on a decision.
Electoral Area E director Andrew Fall said he did not see the decision as being a big rush. He said the parkland acquisition strategy is several years old.
“It’s been before the board and I’ve looked at it,” said Fall. “We’re talking about establishing a placeholder. We are not talking about money in there. We are talking about a report on the prospect to build that, which will provide information, and to write a report on potential grants. These aren’t binding decisions.
“If we find a better way to fund it, if we think one of the options is better down the road, it can be changed. This is a first step, it makes a placeholder and gathers information to help us start moving forward.”
The motion carried with Doubt and Gisborne opposed.
