Green groups demand cabinet axe subdivisions

Lawyer argues provincial delay to blame for proposal
Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist
Lawyers for the Sea-to-Sea Greenbelt Society, supported by other environmental groups, are demanding the provincial cabinet quash subdivision applications for land west of Sooke.
The province should restore democratic control over land use to the Capital Regional District and rectify some of the problems which spun out of provincial decisions on former tree farm licence land, lawyer Irene Faulkner wrote in a letter delivered yesterday to Premier Gordon Campbell and members of cabinet.

Using a delay in provincial approval of CRD bylaws, which restrict minimum lot size on forestry land to a minimum of 120 hectares, Western Forest Products applied to the province under the old rules to create 319 smaller lots on the waterfront and wilderness area around Jordan River, Shirley and Otter Point.

Faulkner, in the legal submission, says under the Land Title Act cabinet can dismiss any subdivision plan that is against the public interest.

“If there had been proper consultation, these hasty subdivision applications would simply have not been possible. Therefore they should not be allowed to stand,” Faulkner says in the letter.

The failure to consult with the CRD about taking private forestlands out of tree farm licences wreaked havoc on land regulation and puts the region’s future at serious risk, she said.

A report released last week by auditor general John Doyle hammered the government for lack of consultation when former forests minister Rich Coleman allowed WFP to withdraw 28,000 hectares of private land from three Vancouver Island TFLs.

Approval of the subdivisions would “effectively nullify land use bylaws that the people of the region recently demanded and the CRD enacted,” Faulkner said.

It would also contradict government’s commitment that the CRD would have the power to regulate land use on former TFL lands, she said.

“These subdivision applications will blast a massive hole in the western side of the CRD regional growth strategy and ensure urban sprawl for the wild coast and forests between Sooke and Jordan River,” said Ray Zimmerman of the Greenbelt Society.

Juan de Fuca electoral area director Erik Lund, CRD representative for the area, said he hopes government turns down the WFP application.

“My view is the province should do the right thing and not approve it. They should tell WFP if they want to subdivide they should make an application to local government,” Lund said.

WFP has a year under the grandfathering rule to get all approvals and subdivision infrastructure built and Lund warned, if the subdivision goes ahead, there will be no leeway on the time frame.

Maurita Prato, Dogwood Initiative forests campaigner, said the legal submission sets out an avenue for the government to save face.

“They can do the right thing and try and clean up some of the mess they have made,” she said.