A $33.3-million agreement to purchase the Kapoor Lumber Company lands next to the Sooke Lake Reservoir and the Sooke Lake Watershed will provide a buffer to help make the region’s main water supply more secure, says the Capital Regional District’s board chair.
Sidney Mayor Cliff McNeil-Smith said the CRD has identified acquiring the lands as a priority for years, but the 4,875-acre (1.973-hectare) parcel only recently became available.
The purchase was recommended by the Regional Water Supply Commission, and will be funded through long-term debt to be repaid by water users over many years.
The average cost per household is estimated at $14 per year.
Commission chair Gord Baird called the purchase a “rare and significant opportunity” to secure land that is important to the future of the region’s water supply, “ensuring that we continue to provide clean and safe drinking water for generations to come.”
Under its agreement with the CRD, the Kapoor Lumber Company, which began in the 1920s, will continue to use sustainable logging practices in the parcel until September, when the CRD assumes ownership.
The CRD says it will seek elector approval this year for a bylaw allowing funds to be borrowed for the land purchase through the alternative-approval process.
The process can be used by local governments instead of the more-expensive borrowing referendum.
While a referendum needs a 50 per cent plus one vote to succeed, the alternative-approval process allows the measure to go ahead unless at least 10 per cent of electors sign a form opposing borrowing.
If that doesn’t work out, the CRD can go to referendum or seek consent from local councils to borrow the funds.
The CRD used the alternative-approval process in 2023 to borrow $85 million for a housing program in partnership with other levels of government.
