Planned rezoning of Sooke green space has some locals up in arms

A groupof residents in Sooke, B.C., are calling on their municipalcouncil to reject a rezoning application that would see a small plot of green space eventually make way for a mental health and wellness centre.

The0.16-hectare lot at 2008 Murray Rd. has been owned and maintained by the Sooke Lions Club since the 1960s, with the organization even adding bathrooms and a playground to it over the years.

But people were using the space as an unofficial park long before that too, the District of Sooke and Lions Club say.The space features a Sitka spruce tree that some local advocates think is at least 200 years old.

Now, after an unsuccessful years-long effortto sell the land to the district, the Lions Club is planning to sell the property to a local counselling service, instead. Sea to Treesays it would maintain part of the green space while building a health and wellness centre.

Those plans would need the site to be rezoned from a park to a commercial lot, a change some local residents intend to protest at a council meeting on Tuesday.

"Green space is rare and precious, and it's important, so we don't want to lose it," said Helen Ritts, a board member of the Friends of Sooke Park Society.

Ritts and the society, who have named the large Sitka spruce tree "Bruce,"say the Murray Road property is some of the only green space in the town centre, where hundreds of rental properties havebeen being built as of late.

"It's so expensive to buy park land today," Ritts said. "Why not take advantage of something we already have? Why give away our only piece of park land?"

Application receives support

If the rezoning application passes on Tuesday, a 2,000-square-foot health and wellness centre would be built, along with a parking lot. The Sitka spruce and some other trees would be protected from development by a covenant.

Sea to Tree's application for the centre has been met with support from the local chamber of commerce, the Sooke Shelter Society andT'Sou-ke First Nation.

"[It] creates an opportunity for more services, more practitioners, more community engagement and relationships," said Hermione Jefferis, Sea to Tree's community engagement co-ordinator.

"[It's] a space that could be used by others in the community, potentially, and also to utilize the green space that is there to have opportunities for nature-based healing practices."

Sea to Tree says it plans to preserve the green space as much as possible, and even add a bespoke garden.

District looking at other park locations

Danny Willis, the president of the Sooke Lions Club, said the clubbegan tryingto sell the land decades agoafter vandalism made it unsustainable for them to maintain.

A previous application, which would have seen the park transformed into an affordable housing building, was paused following community backlash.

Willis said he hopes the new plan goes through.

"It would be a benefit to the community, and we would be able to get funds from our assets that we could invest and then use those funds to reinvest in the community," Willis told CBC News, saying the money received for the sale would be used to fund swimming programs in perpetuity.

"We're looking at something that's going to be good for the community. And some of the neighbours are just looking for what's good for them," he said.

If the rezoning application fails, Willis said the club may look at previous plans to build a clubhouse on the site.

Chris Marshall,the director of planning and development services with the District of Sooke, said the municipality hasa parks and trails master plan,which callsfor more parks in the town centre. He said itidentifies two potential areas for future green spaces, both of them larger than the park at Murray Road.