A section of a public park in south Nanaimo will be sold to make way for a subdivision access road, provided the transaction passes an alternative-approval process.
About 0.4 hectares of the north end of Elaine Hamilton Park, city-owned parkland at 1631 Naylor Cres., will be sold to Seacliff Properties to become road right-of-way linking Extension Road to a proposed housing subdivision project, which will become part of the Sandstone housing development south of Chase River.
The land is slated to have its park dedication removed and be sold for $45,000, but because it’s city-owned parkland, its park dedication must be removed with approval of the electorate. The least expensive option to seek that approval is via an AAP.
Nanaimo city council and city staff wrestled with the topic at a meeting Monday, June 9.
“It is important to note that the field in the park will remain and the existing washroom facility impacted will be rebuilt by the developer at the developer’s cost,” said Nancy Skeels, city manager of real estate.
Coun. Paul Manly noted that the proposed road would be laid over a creek and wetland.
Julie Budgen, biologist with Corvidae Environmental Consulting, said the area impacted is of “low-quality habitat” and “highly impacted with invasive species” and added that the loss of wetland would be offset elsewhere, two-fold.
“The offsetting means it’s going to be re-built in another area that’s contributing to the existing watershed … The objective here with the offsetting is to create better habitat and improve other areas with that two-times size of improvement,” she said.
Corvidae is working with the city and province to come up with a design plan for the project and none of the roadwork would be able to proceed without it, Budgen said.
Manly also questioned the $45,000 appraisal value of the land and wondered where he "could pick up land for 45 grand in Nanaimo." Skeels said the independent appraisal was based on the land being zoned and dedicated parkland, which impacts the value.
Manly asked if it wouldn’t have be better to re-zone the land first and then have it appraised at a higher value, but Dale Lindsay, city chief administrative officer, cautioned council against using its powers to re-zone land to get a higher price for access to a development that has already been approved.
Georgia Desjardins, Seacliff's vice-president of development, noted that the developer intends to dedicate approximately 36 hectares on the parcel of land as park and open space in the city.
The bylaw to remove the section of land as dedicated public park passed three readings with councillors Ben Geselbracht, Tyler Brown and Manly opposed. A related motion on the road-dedication agreement with the developer passed as well.
Geselbracht said in his view, “putting 600 homes in this area has always been problematic" and will contribute to traffic congestion in Chase River.
“The loss of parkland, the loss of the wetland area and justifying it for a residential development really is, in my opinion, just displaced and it’s just not something I can support at this time,” he said.
Council also voted to start an alternative-approval process to seek permission from the electorate to remove the park dedication for the section of land, but only after the initial motion to go to an AAP failed with councillors Hilary Eastmure, Sheryl Armstrong, Brown, Geselbracht and Manly opposed.
“We do realize, council, that, as you think about this, that this will require a roughly $300,000 referendum in order to deal with a property that’s been valued at $45,000,” said Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog.
Lindsay advised council that it would create a drain on staff resources “to go run a full referendum for one acre of road dedication.”
Jeremy Holm, the city's director of planning and development, said the proposed road, which would be the major access into the development, was identified the optimal link to Extension Road with the least traffic impact on the area. He said without the new road dedication, access would go through existing local roads.
“We’ll have some exploration to do, is essentially the outcome of not proceeding with this,” Holm said, and Poul Rosen, city director of engineering, added that “the traffic generated from this development will be substantial … existing roads in the area were never designed or intended to handle that kind of traffic.”
After hearing staff's recommendations, Armstrong reiterated that she doesn’t like AAPs for parkland removal, but nevertheless asked for a motion for council to reconsider its previous vote.
“When I do look at this, I think there’s actually going to be a bigger benefit for the community and I don’t think it’s going to hurt,” she said.
In its second vote on the matter, council voted in favour of proceeding with an AAP with Geselbracht, Brown and Manly opposed.
The alternative-approval process will pass if fewer than 7,672 citizens – 10 per cent of eligible voters in Nanaimo – express opposition to the park dedication removal. The AAP will be held from June 18-July 21.
