The Revelstoke Adventure Park has cleared a major hurdle after being give a conditional offer for a Crown land tenure by the provincial government.
Illecillewaet Development Limited Partnership (IDLP) was awarded a 30-year licence of occupation to develop the proposed tourist attraction on 257 hectares of Crown land in the Greeley area, about 10 kilometres east of Revelstoke.
The park would also encompass 64 hectares of private land on old farms in the area.
IDLP plans on developing the area into a major attraction featuring lift-accessed mountain biking, bungee jumping, ropes course, man-made lake, campground and more.
The tenure offer is subject to the proponent getting the land re-zoned by the Columbia Shuswap Regional District. They also need to get proper insurance and securities in place.
“We’re excited but we’re not celebrating,” said Jason Roe, the Chief Operating Officer, of Black Tie Properties and the lead on the adventure park development.
The re-zoning still needs to be given third reading and final adoption by the board of the CSRD.
IDLP is a partnership between Black Tie Properties, which is run by Roe, and Northland Properties, the owners of Revelstoke Mountain Resort. Black Tie has acted as the lead on the project, handling the various applications for the project. Part of the adventure park’s tenure overlaps with RMR’s recreation area.
IDLP submitted its management plan for the area to the province last October. It was the company’s second application, after an original one was rejected in 2013.
The management plan submitted by the proponent last year included a multi-phase buildout. Christine Rohr, a land officer with the Ministry of Forests, Lands & Natural Resource Operations, told the Review that modifications have been made to the plan as a result of referrals to other government agencies and stakeholders, but the major elements remain the same.
The tenure offer says “no significant impacts on the environment have been identified by mandated agencies.”
The plan divides the park into five areas. Greeley Meadows, which would be mostly located on private land, would include a campground with 150 fully-serviced sites and 20 yurts; a man-made lake with a beach, a driving range, parking and the main guest facilities.
Just above that would be the tree-top adventures — a high ropes course similar to the one at SkyTrek.
A chairlift would access the bungee centre, which would be located on a bench overlooking the town of Revelstoke. It would include the bungee jump, a rock climbing area, sky swing, mountain lodge, and sightseeing deck.
The zip lines would stretch down from the bungee centre to the meadows, with the option to take either one 1,400 metre ride, or a series of zip lines ranging in distance from 20 metres to 450 metres.
The mountain bike zone would encompass the rest of the tenure, with trails snaking through the forest from the bungee centre to the base.