by Lexi Bainas
Cowichan Valley Citizen
January 31,
2004
Lake Cowichan residents want more details about the price of a piece of
environmentally sensitive municipal land the Town of Lake Cowichan will
offer for sale.
The town's appraiser has valued the 11-hectare Stanley Creek property
near upper Neva Road at $134,000. As well, the town wants the $60,000
it would have made logging the steeply sloped watershed.
The residents, many of whom own property near the fish-bearing stream and who have been trying to stop the town from logging, are now looking at options to preserve the area.
These include buying the property as a group or having owners of adjacent properties buy the property with an eye to making a conservation area under the aegis of the Cowichan Community Land Trust.
At a meeting last week, several residents balked at the price.
Group spokesperson Ingrid Wood said she considers it only an opening gambit on the part of the town.
Some residents questioned the assessment, saying the $134,000 likely includes the timber as well, since the B.C. Assessment Authority's figures from last year show the piece valued at $122,000.
Wood said she'll try to get a copy of the appraisal.
Wood said Lake Cowichan Mayor Jack Peake has told her the land will be offered for public sale, so they will have to bid for it along with anyone else.
She doesn't expect that to be a difficulty. "It's been argued over for 20 years. No developer who knows the history would want to get involved in that but we do need to be aware that it has to be offered that way."
Peake told Wood in December that if area residents vote to amalgamate with the town, the municipality will ensure the 11 hectares are protected.
Several people, including Wood, suggested the town's whole push is financially based and that an injection of tax money from a group of new residents will solve matters.
The town suggested last Fall it wants to see the problem resolved by this Spring but Wood said Monday she'll talk to them about the deadline.
"I want the town to realize we are in full process here," she said. "I would hope the town would consider holding off on their process because of it."
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