A multi-family residential development adjacent to the French Creek Estuary Nature Preserve has raised concerns from conservation group in French Creek.
The Save Estuary Land Society is disappointed a hectare of a privately-owned land was granted a development permit though it located near an ecologically sensitive area on a floodplain and is home to an active colony of Great Blue Herons, a B.C. species at risk.
The society was involved in the purchase of 9.22 hectares of land that is now a nature preserve. It hoped to see the one hectare of land near the estuary purchased.
A development permit was issued Dec. 9 by the Regional District of Nanaimo to a Qualicum Beach construction company for “clearing and filling” on the one hectare.
Denise Foster, chair of the society, indicated no notification of the work was provided to residents in the area, the RDN board and other stakeholders including First Nations and community members who have donated and contributed to acquisition and restoration of the nature preserve in the area.
Notifications and approvals are not required under provincial legislation and RDN bylaws. However, Foster said, in the case of this high profile property adjacent to the nature preserve, ‘not required’ doesn’t seem an adequate reason to withhold notice from stakeholders.
The property shelters one of only two Great Blue Heron colonies from Nanoose Bay to Deep Bay, said Foster, who added that the population of this heron species has declined significantly since the 1970s.
Foster said that a similar situation occurred in 2020 when protective trees at a heron colony in Qualicum Beach were cut down and the herons never returned.
RDN manager of current planning, planning and development, Paul Thompson, said a development permit was required as the land clearing was for a property located in the development permit areas for eagle and heron nesting trees and freshwater and fish habitat. He said the conditions for the DP are based on the report of a professional biologist that included recommendations to protect the heron nests and the watercourse to allow clearing of the property.
For more information: saveestuarylandsociety.ca.
