The Friends of Bridge Lake (FOBL) held a meeting on March 17 after slightly more than half of its members participated in an online survey, and two-thirds of them were opposed to the Heritage Island land swap.
FOBL president Jim Dunbar notes the group has now taken a stance against the swap as a result of the vote. He adds a “small minority of members” remains in favour of the exchange of Crown land for the island.
”[FOBL] is not against the subdivision; it's against the actual trading of public land for private land. If the land swap goes through, then the subdivision automatically gets done and it follows a set of rules and that [part] is fine."
Dunbar explains he has also spoken with dozens of area residents and says the "vast majority" is against the swap.
"The biggest thing out there is the public concept," he says of the people who talk to him, and it is a perceived inequity in the swap proposal.
The FOBL society was formed to provide information to both members and the public to help them make informed decisions, he notes, and not to decide for them.
"It's nothing to do with FOBL. It's more to do with taxpayers, such as other area landowners."
Residents are telling him the lakeshore land is "worth five times what that island is, or more" even without a subdivision, Dunbar says, adding there is concern the Ministry of Natural Resource Operations (MNRO) is offering a straight across trade.
"People are thinking this is an unfair exchange, that [developer Julian] Kenney is gaining greater value because of a business mistake. He bought an island that ... couldn't be zoned for what he wanted to do."
However, the exchange proposal is stand-alone, not relating to a business mistake, Kenney says, adding he absorbed the "huge" costs associated with the now-defunct island development, and has deliberately chosen not to pursue it.
Kenney notes he initiated the property exchange in response to the community's wish to recover the island for public ownership, and after the land swap idea was suggested to him at a public meeting.
Dunbar says he believes if Kenney wants that land, he should be paying money for it because it belongs to the taxpayers of British Columbia. He notes other people might want that opportunity, but aren't being given the opportunity.
These concerns are directed more at the provincial government than the developer, Dunbar says, adding he understands Kenney is just trying to find a way to build a development.
"If he does make it happen, it's a good deal for him, but it's not fair to anybody who is a taxpayer because it's a very inequitable swap."
However, Kenney explains the government took the value of the island and offered its opinion of an equivalent area as developed, less development costs, and is being "extremely cautious" about that by offering below what was suggested for a "fair trade" of raw land for raw land in the appraisal.
"In any assessment, the value has to take into account all of the development costs."
Both he and the government have addressed "every single one of the issues" brought forward from FOBL and resident letters during his original application for a larger piece of lakeshore Crown land, Kenney says, adding that is why it took 2.5 years to get to the point of the recent MNRO offer.
FOBL will hold a public meeting to provide information in the Bridge Lake Community School gym at 7 p.m. on April 2. More information is available by e-mailing info@friendsofbridgelake.org.