Housing developments encroaching on Goldstream Provincial Park and Sooke Hills Regional Park at the head of Saanich Inlet threaten the Sea-to-Sea Green Blue Belt. Photo by Alison Spriggs
PAVING PARADISE THREATS TO GREENSPACE
"Urban sprawl is the greatest environmental threat in the Georgia Basin".
(British Columbia government study)
Green spaces and wildlands make the Capital Regional District a great place to live.
But the Capital Region's natural areas are seriously threatened by population growth and corresponding development. Amongst the current threats are proposed urban development projects on lands adjacent to East Sooke Park and numerous rock quarry proposals on lands adjacent to the new Sooke Hills Wilderness Regional Park.
Many of the green space areas that Capital Region residents now take for granted are not yet protected as parks. In fact, most of these green spaces are private lands that could be developed and lost as green space in the very near future.
If certain large tracts of private land currently on the market are not purchased and conserved soon to complete the Sea-to-Sea Green Blue Belt, then they will be sold to developers and the "belt" will be broken by inappropriate residential urban sprawl.
"If we want to live in the Emerald Kingdom, we're going to have to buy the jewels."
(Our View, Times Colonist, April 25, 1999)
Get your aspiring political leaders to take a stand. Do they advocate setting up a Parks Acquisition Fund? Do they support the completion of the Sea-to-Sea Green Blue Belt?
The CRD needs to quickly establish a park acquisition fund that is sufficient to purchase the crucial properties needed to complete Greater Victoria's Sea-to-Sea Green Blue Belt. Such a fund makes good financial sense. We won't have to borrow money to purchase parklands, as has been done in the past. Instead, public money raised to buy parks will be spent that way, not on interest payments.
In 1998, before any educational campaign was launched about the need for such a levy, 61 percent of people responding to a random survey in the CRD said that they would support a property tax increase to buy more lands for parks. Most people were willing to accept an increase in tax of $5.00 per $100,000 of assessed value (or about $11.33 per average household value). The concept of supporting a tax levy for our park system received stronger support than raising taxes for other popular services like swimming pools, ice rinks, sports fields and libraries.
It is estimated that a tax levy of at least $10 per year per average household is needed to do the job of regional park purchases over the next decade. This amounts to $4.40 per $100,000 in assessed value. This would raise about $17 million over ten years. Local groups and other levels of government working as partners could then help raise the additional several dollars needed to top up this Park Acquisition Fund.
Municipal elections are held every third year on November 20th. This year, 1999, is an election year.
Attend public all-candidates meetings and ask those seeking your vote if they support the annual levy of $10 per household to be used for park acquisition including buying up the private properties needed to complete the Sea-to-Sea Green Blue Belt!
Get and fill out WCWC "opinion poll" mailing cards regarding the Parks Acquisition Fund and send them to your local governments as soon as possible!
If you are eligible, be sure to vote November 20. The future of our CRD Park system is at stake!
