The District of Sicamous is ready to take the next step toward the creation of a municipal campground with the submission of a land exclusion application to the Agricultural Land Commission.
A land use report by district staff was the final piece required for the district’s ALC application for the exclusion of 33 hectares of property, both public and private, from the Agricultural Land Reserve. That report was provided to Sicamous council on Wednesday.
“This will now allow us to officially apply on behalf of the owners and move this application to the ALC,” commented town manager Evan Parliament.
The report, written by town planner Melinda Smyrl, states how the effort to create a municipal campground off of Old Town Road began in 2014 with a partnership between the district and Bryant Laboret, owner of 101 Old Town Road. Discussions led to economic, environmental and agricultural studies, with owners of neighbouring properties coming onboard in the process.
Related: Application details vision for campground
The properties being sought for exclusion include 43 acres owned by Laboret, 17 acres owned by Robert Haberman and 36 acres of Crown land.
“It should be noted that the district has entered into longterm lease tenure agreements processes for those lands identified as Crown… and the (district) has obtained permission from those private landowners to move forward with applications that would result in the development of a municipal campground,” writes Smyrl in her report, adding the district and the Splatsin have, “agreed to a partnership in the development of a municipal campground that is to include an interpretive centre that highlights the historical uses of portions of the lands as village and gathering sites.”
The report breaks down how the district proposes to use the properties in the application. The 36-acre piece of Crown land to the west would become part of the district’s nature park trail system with some seasonal tent sites. The 17-acre portion to the south would be used for the Splatsin and district interpretive area, while the 43-acre portion is where the majority of campsites would be located.
To the east of the proposed main campground site is a 23-acre property owned by Less and Shelly Masters. On Sept. 13, the District of Sicamous announced it had made an offer of $560,000 for the purchase this property, known as the former Abbott Berry Farm, that the offer had been accepted and the sale was conditional to the success of the district’s ALC application.
Town manager Evan Parliament explained the former berry farm would serve two functions. One, it would be used to provide right-of-way access to the campground (subject to a separate, future ALC application). And two, it would be developed as an urban farm.
Related: UPDATED: Sicamous pursues property to support proposed campground
“This will remain in the ALR, this will remain as a farm, if the ALC approves the exclusion of this,” said Parliament. “The primary purpose of this land is we want to actually promote an urban farm concept. We want to increase food production and it’s all for the benefit of the community, food security, etc.”
Parliament added the district has been able to acquire the service of four University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus students who will be touring the former berry farm property to develop ways to make it productive again.
“So we look forward to hearing from them on how we can make this green area viable and bring it back to life in terms of food production for the community…,” said Parliament. “It’s agritourism, it’s food production, it’s economic development, it’s a community hall – there’s certain things you can do on farmland that can benefit the community and meet the mandate of the ALC. So that’s the concept here. It’s more than just a campground proposal. It’s expanding what we believe is important, which is public access to the water, public access to trails and enhancing our food security.”
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