Letter to Sooke News Mirror – February 16, 2024
Re: Sooke Lions Private Property
If you check the District of Sooke Master Plan 2008, Murray Rd. does not appear as a park, because it is not a public park. It is zone P1, public recreations. This land is privately owned property. Sooke Lions offered to sell or lease the land to the District of Sooke if they wished to make it an official park. Sooke Council declined the offer.
Anyone with foresight should see that the Sea to Tree proposal could be the best of many worlds. What is now gravel would become the building and parking lot. The green space would remain, as the aesthetics would be beneficial to their clientele.
This proposal would be a multiple win for Sooke. Downtown green space would continue, the residents would be offered better access to mental health care, the District would commence collecting property taxes, and the profits from the sale would be reinvested in the community through Sooke Lions projects. This could sustain the grade two swim program in perpetuity. Currently residents are complaining of homeless camping on the property. This too would be mitigated with full time owners occupying the land every day.
Sooke Lions could eliminate the green space by building a clubhouse. This would not entail any rezoning. Sooke does not need more public meeting space. But Sea to Tree proposal offers many more community benefits.
Sincerely,
Lion Danny Willis
Sooke Lions Vice President