OSOYOOS TIMES-October 27, 2010

By Paul Everest – Osoyoos Times

Most of the roughly 70 Anarchist Mountain residents who attended an open house in Osoyoos on Oct. 20 told representatives of the Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) that they do not want public parkland within the mountain’s Regal Ridge development.
Under the Local Government Act, the RDOS has the right to require a developer to dedicate five per cent of land within a development site to the regional district as parkland when subdivisions take place.
Alternatively, if a developer does not want to dedicate parkland, he or she can pay cash in lieu to a local government.
When the RDOS approved the 2,400-hectare Regal Ridge development in 2003, the RDOS waived the parkland dedication requirement because developer Adrian Erickson placed a restrictive covenant on 606 hectares within the development area for conservation purposes.
He has also set aside roughly 1,200 hectares of the development as conservation land.
That land is zoned Conservation area.
In 2008, however, Regal Ridge sought a zoning amendment from the RDOS to cover increased density within the development and the need to rezone areas due to the acquisition of more land.
These changes triggered a requirement for Erickson to dedicate parkland within the Regal Ridge development.
The RDOS and Regal Ridge have agreed to prepare a plan that will provide direction for future parkland dedication within the development, mainly so that Erickson does not have to go through the dedication process every time he wishes to create another subdivision at the site.
The areas within the development that the RDOS have identified as potential parkland dedication sites include trails along Nine Mile Creek, day-use recreation areas near Sasquatch Pond and Wapiti Pond, trail corridors within some of the development’s 16 subdivisions, up to two hectares of land for a sports field at an unspecified location and a public parking area off of Bull Moose Road for access to Crown land near the development’s northern boundary.
Erickson said he was ready to dedicate the parkland last year, but the RDOS wanted to poll mountain residents about their opinions on such a dedication first.
Mountain residents were invited to an open house hosted by the RDOS at the Osoyoos Legion Hall on Oct. 20 to share their feelings on possible parkland dedication.
Nearly all of the people who spoke up said they do not want public parkland within the Regal Ridge development.
They said having public parkland in the development will create an increased fire hazard in an already high-risk fire area, cause traffic congestion, allow non-mountain residents to trespass on privately owned lands, create undesirable cross-border traffic and increase taxes for mountain residents.
One of the attendees said people have moved to Regal Ridge to have privacy and to escape the need for fences.
It was argued that creating parks in the development would encourage the public to come to the mountain and trespass on private property, therefore requiring residents to build fences and other barriers.
One woman said that if the conservation areas are left as Crown land, the public won’t come out of fear of “lions, tigers and bears.”
Creating a park, however, will make people think it’s safe for them to come, she said.
Others said only mountain residents should have access to conservation land on the mountain as only residents will respect it.
Mark McKenney, president of the Anarchist Mountain Community Society, presented a prepared statement at the meeting explaining that the society had conducted a poll of mountain residents and owners on the park dedication issue in August.
Out of 44 returned questionnaires, 37 respondents indicated that they oppose community parks on the mountain.
Some of the reasons behind the opposition, McKenney said, included a belief that the public will not be respectful of environmentally sensitive areas within the development.
Respondents also indicated that they do not want any new community service costs for parkland development and maintenance added to their taxes.
McKenney said the society and Regal Ridge have developed an “agreement in principle” which was signed on Oct. 18 and guarantees access to conservation lands within the development to Anarchist Mountain and Sidley Mountain residents and defines what types of activities are allowed in those areas.
The agreement, McKenney added, removes the need for public park lands on the mountain.
Brad Elenko of Urban Connections, who is working as a planning consultant for the RDOS on this matter, said the RDOS had sent out its own surveys to roughly 350 landowners living in the Anarchist Mountain Fire Protection area and so far have received roughly 60 back.
He said those who have responded so far have expressed support for the project.
One woman said, however, it is likely most of those polled by the RDOS are “absentee landowners” and the results of the survey would surely tip in the other direction if more permanent residents were surveyed.
Donna Butler, a development services manager for the RDOS, responded to some of the concerns expressed at the meeting by asking the gathering if they should not be planning for the future.
She said parkland on the mountain might be desired in 20 to 30 years when the development is fully built out and there are as many as 1,000 people living in Regal Ridge, adding that if such parkland is not set aside now, there may not be a chance to develop parks in the future if Regal Ridge is sold.
“What if people say, ‘Where are the parks?’” Butler said, adding that some residents may someday want parks.
Towards the end of the meeting, Elenko suggested that Regal Ridge could turn parkland over to the RDOS and the RDOS could then lease the parkland to the Anarchist Mountain Community Society with a covenant that the land could never be sold.
The RDOS board of directors could decide to allow such a lease, he said, and even though that would go against the five-per-cent dedication policy, such an action would still meet the objective of keeping the land in perpetuity for mountain residents.
When asked about possible property taxation on the parkland if such a lease were to take place, Elenko said certain tax exemptions for parkland would be possible.
McKenney said after the meeting that Elenko’s idea may be a “workable option.”
“But we would have to see what the terms of any agreements would be,” he said. “If a lease allowed the community to make the rules of use of the ‘private parklands’ this might be workable.”
Mountain residents have been asked to fill out a questionnaire asking them if they believe that some public land in Regal Ridge should be provided for use by present and future residents.
It then asks them what areas, if any,  they would agree to have dedicated to the RDOS.
Elenko will write a report on the parkland issue and the discussion at the open house that will go to the RDOS board for information.
Should the board need to vote on what direction to take regarding parkland dedication in Regal Ridge, RDOS staff would then have to prepare a report on the matter.
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