Council re-affirmed its support for the Revelstoke Adventure Park, and said it would only ask it to join the city if it developed beyond a certain size.
There was some confusion at the council table last week when they were asked to provide feedback to the Columbia Shuswap Regional District on the adventure park’s re-zoning application.
The referral that was sent to the city included the potential for 350 tourist accommodation units and up to 11,800 square metres of commercial space. However, since that was sent in, the plans have been scaled back and hotel and tourist cabin use have been removed from the zoning, along with about half the commercial space, according to Jason Roe, the Chief Operating Officer of Black Tie Properties, which is leading the development of the adventure park.
Those changes didn’t make it to city hall before Dean Strachan, the city’s manager of development services, prepared his recommendations, which included a controversial request to have the adventure park property annexed to the City of Revelstoke.
“Given the increase in scope of the proposed adventure park development, staff have concerns regarding the potential costs and impacts of the development related to its draw on community services (e.g., water, roads, parks & recreation, and emergency services) which may detrimentally impact the ability for the city to satisfy current and future demands within the City of Revelstoke,” wrote Strachan.
When it came time for council to make its recommendations, they hedged the request for annexation, saying they would only want it to happen if the application went through “as presented,” meaning with the extra accommodation and commercial space.
“If in the future this development reached the large scale as presented then we would be looking at annexation,” said mayor Mark McKee. “There is a high level of support from this council for the adventure park, it’s just concerned with the size and scale that has been presented.”
One of the concerns is over water. Currently, the adventure park has a licence to connect a three-inch pipe to the city’s water main, which runs under the property, but it can only be used for residential and agricultural purposes.
Roe told the Review they’re hoping to avoid a lengthy annexation process and are exploring other water options, such as amending the water licence and digging wells.
The Revelstoke Adventure Park will feature numerous action sport activities in the Greely area 10 kilometres east of Revelstoke, including lift-accessed mountain biking, a bungie tower, zip lines, and more.