The hard part is over. Now the fun begins for the management of the proposed Revelstoke Adventure Park
The BC Government awarded the adventure park a 30-year tenure over 257 hectares of Crown land on the north side of Mount Mackenzie, 10 kilometres east of Revelstoke, the Ministry of Forests, Lands & Natural Resource Operations, announced on Friday.
“I’m over the moon,” said Jason Roe, RAP’s CEO, in an interview. “I’m realizing how much work has to be done. It’s amazing. It’s incredible, especially because we know we can be saying yes at this point.”
The adventure park plans to include lift-accessed mountain biking, a bungee jump, zip lines, hiking trails, a lake with a mechanical surf wave, a campground, and more if and when it’s fully developed.
The park has been years in development. The Review first reported on the proposal four years ago. The proponent’s first application for tenure was rejected, forcing them to go back and conduct numerous studies before submitting a new management plan for approval.
The revised application was filed in October 2015 and approved almost a year later.
Meanwhile, in October 2016, the Columbia Shuswap Regional District approved re-zoning of the lands, which was the key final condition to obtain tenure.
Now, with the granting of the tenure, work will begin on all the detailed studies needed to put the infrastructure in place, said Roe. While the approved management plan speaks to the big picture, now people will be on the ground looking into where exactly the gondola, zip lines and rope course will go. They need to bring in geotechnical engineers and environmental professionals to do assessments for each specific work that goes in.
“As soon as the snow clears we’ll start clear-cutting areas for the road, lift line and any other intensive use sights,” said Roe. “We’ll be building the road, surveying and siting and hopefully building the gondola base.”
They will also start approaching dealers to by all the infrastructure for the park. If all goes well, Roe hopes that work will take place over the spring and early summer, and construction can begin by late-summer.
“If I can be building a foundation of the main building by the middle of August or September, that’s what I’ll be doing,” he said.
There’s also behind-the-scenes work that needs to be done, like hiring staff and marketing the park. “The marketing has to start this summer, the HR, operational plans, all that stuff has to go in place,” said Roe.
Phase one will include a gondola, the bungee centre, some mountain biking trails, zip lines, a restaurant and RV campground. Roe said he wants to have those attractions ready for a July 2018 opening. He said financing is in place to make it happen.
The adventure park is being developed by Illecillewaet Development Limited, a partnership between Northland Properties, the owners of Revelstoke Mountain Resort, and Black Tie Properties.
