Editor,
The following letter is in response to the open letter to me from Karen Powers regarding the proposed Adventure Tourism Park in the vicinity of Greeley (Revelstoke needs tourism initiative, Letters, Aug. 21).
Thanks for your interest in this project. When the CSRD receives a proposal for rezoning we then go through a public process, we also refer the proposal to all affected government agencies and First Nations. We then take all information received and move forward [or not] on the re-zoning requests based on comments received while also taking public interest into account. A re-zoning process takes time and we ensure there is opportunity for input.
The proponents of this proposal have met with CSRD staff, myself, and the Area B Advisory Planning Commission [APC]. I am in support of this project as is the APC. The proponents have been working with CSRD staff regarding the private land component in order to move this project forward through re-zoning.
Front Counter BC is handling the Crown Land component of the proposal. We forwarded our comments to Front Counter BC stating our support for the Adventure Park on the Crown land with the caveat that the Greeley Creek watershed remains undisturbed.
After sending in our comments the CSRD came into receipt of a letter dated June 3, 2013, from Mayor Raven that outlines municipal concerns. The first concern stated was to safeguard protection of the watershed. Another concern they forwarded to FCBC was access to the development off of Highway 1 and across the one-way bridge. This is clearly an issue that can be dealt with by the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure.
Another concern expressed in the June 3 letter was regarding overlapping tenures with Revelstoke Mountain Resort. That issue is dealt with through the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations, Resort Development Branch.
Finally the June 3 letter states that the City of Revelstoke was planning a Boundary Expansion Process, had budgeted for it and was requesting matching funds of $25,000 from the CSRD to investigate the aforesaid. I was completely surprised by this statement in the June 3 letter as no discussion had taken place with either myself as a CSRD Director, or staff at the CSRD and we were not in receipt of a request for funding. As a result of that statement in the letter from Mayor Raven to FCBC, and in order to ensure there was no confusion with the inaccurate statement we sent a letter to Front Counter BC clarifying that the statement was incorrect. There is no plan for a boundary expansion.
I agree that this development will be beneficial for Area B and the City of Revelstoke as it relates to taxes in Area B and tourism dollars supporting businesses in Revelstoke. I encourage the citizens of Revelstoke to voice their support for this project to me.
Loni Parker
Regional Director
CSRD Area B
lparker@csrd.bc.ca