The Glacier View Lodge Preservation Committee (GVLPC) will be hosting a public forum to discuss the future of Glacier View Lodge and specifically the Business Plan prepared by GVLPC. The meeting will be on Wednesday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Filberg Centre at 411 Anderton Ave., Courtenay.
The Glacier View Lodge (GVL) board of directors and senior management team have for some time been promoting to their staff, residents and family members, a plan that they call a merger. However, the GVLPC feels this really is a transfer (gift) of the assets of Glacier View to the Catholic Church effective almost immediately after the GVL board decision anticipated to be made later this year. This would result in the residents of Glacier View Lodge being moved to the St. Joseph’s campus by approximately 2021.
The GVL Board has consistently denied that there are any options open to them as stewards of the gift to the Comox Valley from General Marsland. The land was gifted to the community in 1946. In 1979, Glacier View Lodge Society was founded by 11 community leaders to function as stewards of General Marsland’s gift. The land and the structure that the citizens of the Comox Valley built on it belongs to the community and must continue to operate as a community-owned senior care facility. GVLPC has prepared a business plan that outlines two alternatives to the merger being touted by the GVL directors. The alternatives proposed would ensure that GVL continues to be owned by the community and proudly stand as the premier provider of residential care in the Comox Valley.
The GVL directors have operated under a veil of secrecy over what they have been planning. There has been no engagement with the public. This is wrong, as is the proposed gift of $8,767,000 (2016 assessed value) from the community to an organization, in this case the Catholic Church, which would own it privately. The purpose of the public forum is to ensure that the community is aware of what has been going on and that there are real options as outlined in the business plan prepared by GVLPC. It is essential that the community become engaged if GVL is to be preserved. We must act now.
Download a copy of Business Plan at – https://carterpower.wixsite.com/gvlpreservationcttee
To facilitate the discussion on Sept. 27, we would encourage the submission of questions by Sept. 25, emailed to regcrone@shaw.ca. In addition, questions from the floor will be welcomed as long as time permits.
To learn more about this issue or to contact us in advance – regcrone@shaw.ca/250-339-0147, or carterpower@shaw.ca/250-218-1499.
