VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Well it's official - Jordan River is up for sale. WFP is putting the town (not the houses on the west end, or the log sort - but everything else) on the auction block to go the the highest bidder. It is a shame that our crown land gets gifted to the forest rape company and they sell it to developers. The point-break location is part of this deal. There are 13 titles comprising 2371 acres for sale. If anyone has a connection with anyone in CRD parks or Provincial or Federal Parks they might want to speak to them about aquiring the point for a park. If it ends up a huge condo timeshare deathstar that would truely be a sad day. If anyone has been to Lahaina or north of there on Maui they will know what I'm talking about. I have a PDF document with all the details if anyone wants me to forward it to them. Colliers International is handling the sale for WFP. E-mail me at .

can you post some sort of link to background info regarding this development, thanks!

I'm a member of the OTTER POINT & SHIRLEY
RESIDENTS & RATEPAYERS ASSOCIATION (OPSRRA)
and got this info by e-mail. It is not yet on the Colliers website. I also have a word document about a meeting by the community on Oct 2 at the Otter Point Firehall from 7 to 9:30.

WFP_Former_TFL_Lands_For_Sale.pdf

OPSRRA_September_2007_Special_Edition_Newsletter.pdf

heres the gist of what i got, thanks!



The Otter Point & Shirley Residents & Ratepayers Association has been informed by Western Forest Products (WFP) that they have placed their Tree Farm License (TFL) 25 properties located in Jordan River and Shirley onto the real estate market. Although this was expected to happen, as a result of the province’s recent decision to permit WFP to withdraw their forest lands from TFL 25, the extent of their land holdings and the locations of the properties that would be offered for sale were unknown to the public until now. Here is the description of the real estate portfolio as prepared by Colliers International, the Industrial & Commercial real estate company that will be conducting the sale on behalf of WFP. See the attachment to this newsletter for more detailed property descriptions and maps.

1. Jordan River:

The 2,371 acres offered for sale in this parcel include all of the WFP properties that they own in the town site (with the exception of their land based log sorting operation) as well as their forest lands to the north and east of the town site. Included in the sale are all of their waterfront properties to the east of River Jordan, including the site of their present offices, work yards and the recreational camp site at the mouth of River Jordan. Ten of the 13 separate properties are located within the boundary of the recently approved Shirley/Jordan River Official Community Plan (OCP) while the remainder are located within the proposed Resource Lands OCP area.

The Land Conservancy might be a good organization to approach about this. They have already shown an interest in the area, having saved the Sooke Potholes and Sooke Mountain park. I think buying the JR surfing area would be a good fit for them. I just don't know how tapped out for finances they are...

http://www.conservancy.bc.ca/

I'm a member. I'll send a note to the organization giving them the heads up about this, even though they are likely tuned in already.

I'd throw my meager offering their way but this would take huge coin that land's gotta be worth a kazillion given the development on the western side of the river.....I suspect that was all in prep for this highly calculated.

My comfort rests with the fact you cannot own (to my knowledge) access to the tital beach and riverside, so at least access would be there to the site, just no parking. Also I don't think anyone in their right mind would build right up to the water's edge given its exposure, but weirder things have happened I guess.

The irony of us taxpayers having to buy back our own crown land after it was given to the industry that raped, pillaged and probably soiled it as well, is not lost on me

I'm not sure if it would take huge bucks for an organization that agreed to make it a park. The gifting of the land to them might have an understanding that parks could get priority over development. It would be much better PR for Western if they have a Western Park formed. "Yea to Western Forest Products! They are so awsome! They preserved the point!" We used this approach 2 years ago to get Muir Creek to be turned into park and not development -as was just announced. The sellers have lots of other land for sale and if they can come out looking good they might take that approach.

The key to getting Muir Creek turned into a park was to keep writing, keep talking, and creating awareness about the "proposed park". We need to do this about JR (and sewers too). It needs to be in the faces of the park decision makers. Who makes the decisions on who buys land for parks? What government, what level, who is the person to contact, etc...

I posted a copy of this thread on the BC Surf Forum. The more users that know about this the better.

Here is a copy of that link

http://bcsurfing.dyndns.org/viewtopic.php?p=4190#4190

I agree thats the right approach TGIAPFB. Even discussing it on the Forum here has benefits (if you recall, BC gov't reps were reading the opinions here regarding the Nitinat Campsite over the last couple of years).

I wanted to say something about this. I question how much developement could possibly go on at Jordan river. I am not a land developer but the little I do know is that whoever buys that land would likely have to get it rezoned to develope anything on it. When you rezone something then I believe that Riparian rights would likely be invoked and any grandfathering would get tossed out. http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/clad/tenure_pr ... parian.pdf My interpretation of these rights says that you need to be 30m back from things like high water marks for any roads, buildings etc. If you know the Jordan River area and where the high water marks are that really doesn't leave much room for a condo developement or the like. I would also be surprised if you could get things like septic systems approved on that site....I wouldn't imagine that there is a sewer system to tie into out there but maybe there is...not sure.

It seems like the worst case, which I agree is not that great, is that the parking and camping areas would be cut off if the new owner didn't want the liability of having a bunch of surfers on their land, which I think most reasonable people would understand.

It seems like getting the land made into a park somehow is our best bet at keeping access to the land.

Please don't anyone take this the wrong way....I AM NOT SUPPORTING THE SALE OF THIS LAND, I am just proposing that it might not be that likely that anything developement wise could go on there. If anyone else with more expertise in this area can comment on my very possibly inaccurate comments please do so.

-Mark

relax, nobody is going to build anything,
probably just some nice grass or something

oh, now you've done it

nice dave!

the shacks at the parking lot would make for a great 19th hole

those grassy greens look great for launching kites! I can just see them littered with gear!