Tod Inlet parkland:

Too expensive To purchase

A plan to have someone purchase 93 acres of priyately-
owned land surrounding Tod Inlet in Central Saanich sure
sounds wonderful. But don’t hold your breath.

On the surface it looks like there is real progress being
made toward having’ the pristine wilderness area preserved
forever. Central Saanich council recently passed a motion
approving in principle the acquisition of a park of up to 93
acres of land west of Wallace Drive within the municipality.

On recommendation of the parks committee, council said
the park would either be owned solely by the Capital
Regional District, or may-involve a CRD regional park
adjacent to a municipal park. 5

That may come as a surprise to land owners adjacent to the
CRD regional park at Island View Beach. They would be
right on target to wonder where the CRD could afford to even
consider the purchase of parkland at Tod Inlet — when the
CRD has said it can’t afford to buy land at Island View
despite a past regional board directive encouraging them to.
Negotiations have gone on with Island View landowners for
years.

We contend that it is somewhat simple for one level of
government to pass resolutions encouraging other levels of
government to take some sort of action.

But, in fairmmess, Central Saanich doesn’t have the ability to
consider purchasing the property for municipal park. Sug-
gesting another body do it was the only real action the
council could take in response to requests from the Citizens
Association to Save the Environment.

CRD wouldn’t have been our first choice. Recently,
provincial initiatives in regards to heritage designation and
preservation through the Ministry of Municipal Affairs were
improved substantially. CASE recognized that in its brief.

Government ministries love giving grants to each other for
projects, and the new Heritage Act provides the method for
just that to occur.

However, before any of that can happen, the major flaw in
the equation cannot be ignored any longer — money. Fama
Holdings didn’t pick up the property for a song and they
certainly won’t give it away without something in retum. In
cash terms, government can’t afford to consider it.

Fama recognizes that for the proposed development to be
successful, it has to have the support of the people. At this
point in time Fama does not seem to be cutthroat profit-
oriented. Rather, their project manager Kelly Gesner is
enthusiastic about recognizing the historical value of the area
as part of the future development.

Certain mules regarding parkland — from provincial and
municipal authorities — will apply to any future develop-
ment. Because of the existence of Tod Creek and the Tod
Inlet foreshore, substantial property cannot be developed.

Fama filed its rezoning application 11 months ago. They’Te
still waiting for an indication of what kind of consideration
those plans will receive from council.

But one thing is certain. The funds required to do a
first-class job on the amount of parkland now being
discussed are not available from at least two levels of
government. But they could be available privately.

Rather than spend taxpayers’ money on purchasing
parkland, Fama should be given a chance to show the public
what its specific plans for Phase 1 are. After all, the company
owns over 1,000 acres of adjoining property in another
municipal area. They want to make an impression.

The result could surprise a lot of people.

The key to the public acquiring a large amount of parkland
at Tod Inlet is negotiation and compromise between the
company and the local government.

NEWS UPDATE...

(POATES. Now

TheReview

TIME FOR ANOTHER PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT
WE'RE CONSIDERING ScRAPPING
THE "DUAL EXTRY” PROGRAMME. ANY OBJECTIONS
FROM DRYONEZ ANY DISCUSSION FROM SCHOOL
BOARDS? No? MoTION FASSES UNANIMOUSLY,
LISTEN FOR OTHER “OPEN (LINE) GOVERNMENT NEWS
PAG To YouR REGUUK SHOW...

Wednesday, June 12,1991 — A6

AE GRE AA

/

TheReview

Serving The Saanich Peninsula
Since 1912
9726 1st Street
Sidney, B.C V8L 3C9
or PO. Box 2070
Sidney, B.C V8L 3S5
Second Class Mail Registration #0128
Published every Wednesday

656-1151
Publisher: Vic Swan Editor: Glenn Werkman
AN ISLAND PUBLISHERS NEWSPAPER

F983) PRIZE WINNT AC ;

E E ROVAM COM y re
5 ae

Bs oer

ear
ws
& *, i
pS

VERIFIED
CIRCULAT-DON

Let’s deal with
partying problem

Editor:

Summer is fast approaching, and
with it, “partying’’ on the beaches
or in and out of private homes.

Recent newspaper reports indi-
cate that once again, the police are
extremely busy attending these
events, although their presence
generally is unwelcome and unap-
preciated. They usually attend
because they have been asked to
by someone who has made a
complaint.

The “party” attended by police
and reported in the May 22nd
edition of The Review seemed to
have concluded in a particularly
nasty fashion (Police looking for
witnesses to vandalism).

What our organization would
like to know is whether the
recently reported incident was just
an example of youthful hijinks
which happened to get out of
control, or a serious outbreak of
anti-social behavior on the part of
very angry, hostile children and
youth?

And if so, why?

Either way, it would seem that
this may indicate a problem within
our community for which we
should be secking a solution.

We would like to know what
your readers think. Do they agree
that there is a problem? Have they
any ideas regarding a solution?

We invite them to respond. Our
phone number is 655-4681. Please
leave a message and we shall be in
touch as soon as possible.

Deryck Thomson

Maureen Kirk

Verna Popejoy

David Hardcastle, and others.

Peninsula Association for
Substance Abuse Prevention

Preserve paradise

Editor:

Peninsula residents are aware
that the partial highways morato-
rium is only a temporary delay in
the ‘“‘grand design” by others for
their area.

In spite of the mass meetings,
representations and workshops
clearly indicating the public’s
wishes, the provincial government,

developers and others as short-
sighted are bullying their way
through with the onslaught on this
small, beautiful corridor.

Is Swartz Bay the only port
suited for monster ferries and the
Pat Bay Highway the only access
to Victoria and up-Island for more
and more cars? :

The people here love this area
and will not tolerate the increasing
imposition by outsiders who have
no studied transportation plan.

Residents are not that compla-
cent, nor dense, to see that the
continued gradual expansion will
only end with the complete dese-
cration of the Peninsula, Los
Angeles style.

An overall moratorium must be
in place now and an impartial,
knowledgeable study of transpor-
tation aspects completed before
further expansion is contemplated.

Jack Anderson
North Saanich

Geli plans back

on drawing board
Editor:

How many more lives are we
willing to lose while we study the
need for a Pat Bay Highway
upgrade?

The present highway system is
inadequate at this time. We all
know that.

The time has come for action
from the community as a whole.
We must contact our municipal
government at 652-4444, the CRD
at 388-4421 and the Minister of
Highways at 387-3180.

We must let these people know
we want the Island View exchange
back on the drawing boards.

Let them know we are not in
favor of studying what we already
know and we are not in favor of all
the pain and suffering that will
result from the deaths and injuries
caused on this section of road.

While we study how it fits into
the overall traffic patterns of the
CRD, we must let our politicians
know we have confidence in the
department of highways planning
department and we want this job
done now.

Please take a few minutes. What
you have to say matters.

Cory Porter.
Brentwood Bay

Explain this _|

Kditor:

The Premier says a Harcourt
government would’ be free spen-
ding.

Would she please explain how.
our provincial debt load has
increased from $4 billion under
the NDP and through 104 previous
years, to the present debt load of
almost $20 billion under Social
Credit.

Ken Dicks
Victoria

‘Court a joke’

Editor:

After reading your articles in
The Review about the vandalism
that has been going on in the
Sidney area caused by youths, I
felt a need to write.

Before I moved to Sidney a
month ago, I lived in White Rock #

and worked at a residential treat- ~~

ment facility for adolescent males.
The majority of these youths were
on probation and they all felt the
court system was a joke.

There was one youth in particu-
lar that was very challenging to
work with. P'll call him Bob.

Bob was 14 years old and came
to the program on probation for

assaulting his mother. During the #=

six months that Bob was in the
program he had charges of mis-
chief (three counts) — damage to
staff member’s car; damage to
police car and breaking of win-
dows; charges of assault (two
counts) — one to another student
and one to a staff member and
charges (three counts) of breach of
undertaking laid against him.

Every time Bob appeared in
court nothing happened. His court
dates were held over again and
again. We all felt with all these
charges against him that he would
go to Y.D.C. (youth detention
centre).

But after three months of held-
over court dates, Bob was finally Sim
sentenced — one year probation fi
and 50 hours community service
work. Bob just laughed as he
walked out of the courtroom.

Yes, it is a crime what happened
to the people who had their homes

Continued on Page A8