Thursday, Aug. 20 is the first chance Cowichan Lake residents will get to talk to the developers of Laketown Ranch, the proposed new home for the Sunfest Country Music Festival.
A special open house has been planned at the site, which is located at 8811 Youbou Road in the Meade Creek area, starting at 6:30 p.m..
A group of developers has applied to the Cowichan Valley Regional District to amend the Official Community Plan and rezone the property, which is located in Area I.
Many local residents will recognize part of the site as being the place where the motorcycle drag races and hill climb used to be held but it’s a much bigger property overall.
Jennifer Kay, an independent land use planning consultant, working with the developers on the development application, spoke to the Citizen last week, to outline some of the plans behind the propsed move.
When and why did Sunfest decide to move?
“It’s two fold. My understanding of the background is that they’ve been looking for a site for a number of years. They’ve been accommodated, very graciously, at the [Cowichan] Exhibition grounds but they’ve outgrown that facility. The owners have really been focused on a search for a new site that would accommodate a purpose-built amphitheatre for events like Sunfest and a destination campground. So many festivals, however much they are welcomed by communities, fit their way in and are not on purpose-built sites.
That means the search has been on for just the right land that would make for an exciting experience for festivals and other events.”
Why that particular area?
“The search has been going on up and down Vancouver Island. They looked extensively for a number of criteria. They looked for a site within the Cowichan Valley, one that ideally was in a more industrial context — not in the middle of a residential-type neighbourhood. And they were looking for one that was still on a major road but not on the Island Highway.”
This site is well known in the area; motorcycle sand drags were held there.
“Yes, I understand it’s been used for many things. There’s been an aggregate operation there, there’s an old tire dump site: a bunch of stuff has happened there. It’s a site that’s not undeveloped in that it’s had some resource extraction and other type uses.
Even with the best-laid traffic plans the Cowichan Exhibition land is still on the Trans Canada Highway?
“Yes and it makes a difference on how a traffic management plan is handled.”
And, she said, “the other piece is really topography and size of site.”
That meant land where they could shape the ground into a natural amphitheatre that would be large enough to accommodate festivals and yet have the requisite natural buffers to contain the sound.
How large is the new site?
“The total property is about 69 hectares or 172 acres, of which the proposed amphitheatre component and the outdoor seating, which is all on grade, is only about 10 acres of the site. There is a portion of event parking and festival camping that’s also planned. It’s about 80 acres of the property and it would be for accessory or temporary use when the larger events are onsite. When they are not in use, those portions of the site are intended to be open space/pasture land.”
Are there going to be permanent structures on the site?
“I think only the event stage and that would be more the footprint of where that infrastructure would come into place. Aside from that, Phase One of the concept for Laketown Ranch is the amphitheatre itself and then all of the onsite works that would be required to accommodate the parking, queueing and camping. Phase Two is a medium- to longer-range plan to develop a [20-acre] destination campground as well. There has also been an environmental assessment done on the site.”
Admittedly Youbou Road is not the Trans Canada Highway but there is just one main road going in and out of there? Won’t traffic be unbelievable?
“Backups won’t happen on the road. What’s different compared to other festival sites or even on the Cowichan Exhibition grounds for Sunfest is there would be an access point [spreading into] six lanes once you’re on the property. It’s all internal to the site, which would be built to accommodate that. A transportation planning consulting firm has completed a traffic and transportation analysis of the project. The idea here is to get the cars off the road very quickly and onto the site for the electronic check-in that they do at larger events and for festival camping. Traffic won’t be stacking up onto Youbou Road.”
What about people trying to get past it their homes?
“There would be signage and specific management strategies for larger events to help with all the patrons and visitors arriving and most importantly with the neighbourhood to ensure those that are coming to and from other destinations by the site have the ability to get home or to work.”
What about fire protection and police? These are small departments, after all, not big ones like in North Cowichan where the Exhibition is located.
“These components have absolutely been considered. They have managed fire suppression and public safety services at Sunfest events successfully and a consulting firm has completed a wildfire management strategy, consistent with what the Cowichan Valley Regional District likes to see. The most notable recommendation to come out of that and included in the proposal is an onsite water storage pond that would serve as an onsite fire suppression source for water. They will have fire service on site. At the recent Sunfest event, there was a 24-hour watch. As for police, in addition to the onsite private security for public safety, they also engage for additional patrols and police force services for the duration of big events. The company would hire them and pay for them separately. Sunfest have events included a very integrated approach to police, fire and ambulance. They start the event planning for those public security services long before and what’s typical of the Sunfest event is they actually have an onsite command centre with all of those services on duty.”
How many people are you hoping to accommodate at Laketown Ranch for a big event?
“They anticipate that smaller events could have about 1,000 people and that bigger events could, on one evening, like Sunfest, could have in the order of 12,000 and maybe upwards of 18,000 people in the amphitheatre, attending over a multi-day event.”
Are the developers planning other events there?
“I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t think there is anything planned as of yet but I do think that having a purpose-built venue would be for the intent of attracting other events. Sunfest is one event that is going to be in need of a home but they do anticipate the potential to create a venue that’s all about the Cowichan Valley and tourism and showcasing the Valley. It could be musical. There’s talk that there might be symphony events or other events like a marathon or antique car shows, a mountain biking exhibition event like what happens up in Whistler. Something like that could easily be accommodated on the property. This could be a venue for musical, cultural and community recreation events.”
And the site would be basically quiet during the off-season?
“Other than the footprint of where the main stage would be, that’s about right. The rest of the site would be non-operational from October until the following spring in April. During those times there are large portions of the site — 30 per cent of the property — even with all these different components in place — that is meant to remain as completely natural open space, maybe even to be reforested. Those areas could be used for walking trails: they’re considering how to invite community use, say, for dog walking, hiking and viewpoints.”
Finally, where would people stay who can’t get camping space or who don’t want to camp?
“That’s a good question. I’m in Victoria and I know people who drive home from Sunfest to sleep and then go back to Sunfest the next day. I think this will bring new economic development to Lake Cowichan and opportunities in Youbou itself and the rest of the corridor, right down to Duncan. Accommodating people who have different desires will bring a boosted tourism economy.”
Is the meeting, scheduled 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 20 at 8811 Youbou Rd. being held at the site itself?
“Yes. The plan is to invite people to the actual site. Not everyone will know it. It’s a chance to come and see it. We are going to be having a number of tents onsite with some information about the proposal. The various consultants who have been part of the proposal will be there: the transportation planners, the site event management planning team, the biology group that did the environmental assessment will share their findings. I also believe the acoustic consultants will also be in attendance. That analysis is underway. We might have some interim reporting to share from that.”
So, on Aug. 20, people who are interested will go to various tents to learn these various things rather than hear it all at a public meeting?
“That’s the idea. We’ll be outside and onsite. There’s a lot of information to absorb in that sort of setting. We’ll have a handout of information and people can share their comments and ask questions they would like more information on. I think this is great that interest in this is picking up. There will be many more opportunities to share a conversation around the proposal. We think it is quite exciting: an interesting opportunity for the Cowichan valley and the Cowichan Lake region to have a well-thought-out destination venue.”
