Ranch lands bought for sports complex

By richard rolke Morning Star Staff Jul 20 2007 http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/
Greater Vernon taxpayers could soon own a large chunk of land, making way for a new sports complex. The Greater Vernon Services Committee has a tentative deal to purchase 106 acres of land from Coldstream Ranch for long-term recreational needs. “We’ve reached an agreement but we’re not disclosing the financial information yet,” said chairman Gary Corner. Part of the land is along the old Grey Canal for trail use, but most of the property is on the south side of Aberdeen Road, across from the North Okanagan Regional District office. The goal is to construct a sports complex, including possibly ball fields, a football field and track, as well as green space. “It’s a pretty large piece of property so there’s lots of room,” said Corner. “We have rough plans of what it would look like.” However, final purchase is contingent on two major stumbling blocks.

The site is within the Agricultural Land Reserve so permission is needed from the Agricultural Land Commission to allow for a non-farm use. But before that can happen, Coldstream council must decide if it supports the land use change and will send the matter to the ALC for consideration. Sports groups welcome GVSC’s actions. “It’s great news. This is the first step towards sports fields,” said Jason Gilbert, Funtastic Sports Society executive director. Funtastic has long maintained that a sports complex is needed to meet local residents’ needs as well as helping to attract tourists and tournaments to the area, “It would be used every weekend of the summer,” said Rick Dubois, Funtastic president. The Vernon Minor Football Association has been pushing for a complex to replace the existing field at Polson Park which isn’t regulation size. “That’s an awesome location,” said vice-president Keith Ridd of Aberdeen Road’s proximity to most parts of Vernon and the easy access off Highway 6.

If the ALC and Coldstream council give their blessing, considerable money will be needed to develop the site. But both Funtastic and the football association are willing to get involved. “We’ve told GVSC we can come up with a minimum of a $300,000 donation plus servicing debt of about $75,000 a year,” said Dubois. Barry Beardsell, GVSC director is confident the project will go ahead. “What this community is so deficient with is parkland,” he said.