qathet Regional District will establish a parkland and greenspace policy.
At the March 30 regional board meeting, city director George Doubt said the regional district will soon be directing money to a parkland acquisition fund and should have a policy and guidelines around what is going to be done with the fund and a parks and greenspace policy in general.
“It will be helpful in making decisions going forward,” said Doubt. “For example, if the regional district was to decide it wanted to acquire a particular piece of parkland, then how would the regional district go about making that decision and how would the public know how the initiative would be taken into consideration?
“This is a good idea and hopefully we will get on with it. I know there are many other priorities on staff’s desks right now but it is something I would like to get moving on.”
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said the proposal was not something he supported at this time given the current situation the regional district finds itself in due to COVID-19. He said a parkland acquisition policy was something that could be considered in the future.
“At this time, I don’t think it warrants allocation of staff time,” said Gisborne.
Electoral Area E director Andrew Fall said he is confident that staff will prioritize their work appropriately.
“Obviously, during this current state of emergency, there will be a lot of effort put toward dealing with COVID-19,” said Fall. “The parks and greenspace policy will be done at a future time but I do think it’s important for us to put it in place because the acquisition fund has funding going into it and I think having the intent to show the public we have a policy to go along with the funding we are allocating is important.
“Ideally, we will have the policy before we actually acquire land so the public can know what our goals are. This is important to put in place and I trust staff will act on it when they have time.”
Doubt proposed a motion that the board direct staff to draft a report and a draft parks and greenspace policy that includes consideration of all aspects of the parkland acquisition fund. Further, the motion suggested that the policy address development, operation and maintenance of regional and community parks and greenspace, as well as all aspects of the parkland acquisition fund. The policy should address the board’s priorities and processes for decision-making with regard to all aspects of the parks and greenspace policy and the parkland acquisition fund, and that staff take into consideration all previous board studies and committee reports relevant to such a policy, according to the motion.
The board voted in favour of the motion, with Gisborne opposed.
In this budget year, the regional district has allocated $183,000 to the parkland acquisition reserve.
