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Alpine residents suspicious of reservoir road

More than 20 Alpine Meadows residents have signed a letter to council voicing objection to a proposed development on Crown land at the north end of upper Mountain View Drive.

More than 20 Alpine Meadows residents have signed a letter to council voicing objection to a proposed development on Crown land at the north end of upper Mountain View Drive.

However, the municipality says there is no development proposed for the land in question – apart from a new reservoir that will store water and provide additional water pressure for fighting fires in the subdivision.

Some of the Alpine residents appeared at a recent council meeting to say they had heard a road was being proposed on the Crown land to provide easier access to two of the four large pan-handle lots that lie behind the last row of houses on Mountain View Drive.

"The land in question is valuable green space and should be preserved in its natural state," reads their letter to council. "At present it is of benefit to the whole community via access, biking and hiking trails and further its value as a natural bear habitat should not be overlooked to benefit two properties. Our other concern is that as a result of development, the community situated directly below the land in question would become a high risk area for land slides. We are planning to discuss this matter with all residents of the area and will bring to their attention the proposed development."

However, Brian Barnett, acting director of public works, said the only road being planned is one that will lead to the new water storage tank and it won’t be much different from the old path that already exists off the end of Mountain View Drive.

The old road is used to access the two old reservoirs which will be decommissioned once the new one is constructed this summer. The new reservoir will be slightly up hill from the old ones, to increase the water pressure, said Barnett.

The RMOW applied to B.C. Assets and Lands to secure the parcel for the new reservoir in July this year. "They are processing the file and it looks like there should be no difficulty processing it in time," Barnett said.

"There are also very different standards for an access road to a reservoir than what would be required for a road to access private property," noted Barnett.

"In the winter, for example, we would use only snowmobiles to access the reservoir. There aren’t the same considerations for grades and width… most often we would simply walk to the reservoir. There may not be even more than a path after the construction has taken place."

Barnett said the owners of the lots have talked to the municipality about the possibility of accessing their property via the new reservoir road but no formal proposal has been made. The four lots do each have a steep and narrow pan-handle access to Mountain View Drive.

"The municipality doesn’t have any position on it simply because there has been no new information submitted." Barnett said the landowners are considering building on their property and have been assessing various access options.

A new reservoir is also in the works for Emerald Estates. It too will be constructed during the summer.