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Britannia Beach poised for new look and development

Residents get a peak at how their community could look in the next several years For the first time in a long time residents of Britannia Beach believe there is a future for their community.

Residents get a peak at how their community could look in the next several years

For the first time in a long time residents of Britannia Beach believe there is a future for their community.

For decades they have lived with rumours about what was going to happen to their town.

"We have lived under the threat of being a golf course and a gravel pit," said Britannia Beach resident Anne Barnes.

"It made your home (impossible to sell) as no one wanted to move into somewhere that wasn’t going to be."

But last week, at a packed meeting with the area’s new owner, Macdonald Development Corporation, residents got a glimpse of what their town could look like and most appeared to be cautiously excited by what they saw.

"It is all good so far," said 19-year resident and chairperson of the Britannia Beach Land Tenure Society Lynne Cook.

"It will be an interesting next couple of months.

"There are huge changes coming to Britannia."

For the last few months engineers, planners, surveyors and clean-up crews have been scurrying around the community.

They have found a warren of underground water pipes, a hydro system far below standard, and a septic and sewer system reeking of old age.

The result of their work was the removal of 10 construction waste bins of garbage, some new lighting and a realization that parts of the community’s infrastructure are held together with baling wire.

At the meeting developer Rob Macdonald told more than 150 residents and others that the infrastructure would be upgraded. The estimated price tag for the work is $4 million.

His confirmation of the work got a solid round of applause.

But the thorniest issues before Macdonald, and the one of most concern to the residents, is will they be allowed to continue living there as he continues with plans to create lots for up to 250 single dwelling homes?

"Many of us can’t afford to buy here or anywhere else, or we don’t want to," said one resident at the meeting.

"And we don’t want to move."

Macdonald was quick to reply.

"We are not interested in seeing people turfed out of their homes," he said.

Macdonald Development owns a small piece of land in the area just off Highway 99 where various retail businesses are now.

The hope is that it can be redeveloped.

"I think in time the whole… area will become a major tourist destination," said Macdonald.

"There is a lot of impetus by people who really care to make it happen.

"We would like to create a little commercial area with retail tenants, or maybe they will be owners."

The community of Britannia Beach is also part of the 162 hectares Macdonald plans on developing.

On Aug. 18 Macdonald’s numbered company, 400091 British Columbia Ltd, was granted an order in B.C. Supreme Court awarding the firm ownership of the Britannia lands. The former owner, Copper Beach Estates Ltd., defaulted on a first mortgage held by Macdonald, who was owed more than $17 million.

Macdonald turned over 3,800 hectares of the land to the provincial government and kept the remaining 200 hectares for development.

He will have to turn over a percentage of his profits to the government to help pay for the clean-up of the area which was considered North America’s largest site of metals contamination.

It is estimated that it will cost $70 million to reclaim the area and treat some of the water, which is also contaminated.

The government did get $30 million from previous owners towards the cost of the clean up.

A water treatment plant will be built in the area and as part of that a new road will have to go through the community to allow several trucks a week to carry lime to the facility.

Its large, dark snake-like form could be seen clearly on Macdonald’s maps of the area at the meeting.

It will go past several of the existing homes and has been amalgamated into the preliminary lot map drawn up by Macdonald.

The map shows approximate property lines for the more than 100 homes already in the community and adds 30 to 40 new lots as well.

Several trailer homes along Britannia Creek were not included in the lot map as preliminary surveys suggest the risk of flooding precludes creating permanent homes there.

The community is about 50 per cent homes and 50 per cent mobile homes.

That difference is key as the discussion goes forward on what will happen to the residents.

Many of those in homes would love to buy their lots if they can afford to. But many mobile home owners aren’t interested or are unsure about how having a trailer on the property will work in the long term.

"The concerns focus around affordability," said Cook.

"There is a lot of retired people here. Everyone that lives in Britannia Beach is living here because it is affordable rental housing and the majority of people here wouldn’t qualify for a mortgage.

"Also a lot of the retired people don’t want to mortgage at this stage of their lives, so it will take a lot of community effort and participation to figure out what everyone wants."

When Barnes moved her mobile home to Britannia Beach 20 years ago there were only two other trailers there.

"I loved that," she said.

"There was absolute privacy. There was a view, there was everything. Then the rest of… the homes found us and they moved in.

"Then the flood happened and the down-below (residents) moved in and it then became a full mobile home park. I didn’t like any of those changes when they happened either, if you want honesty. But I became accustomed to them.

"But the issue now is that I am retired so to get out and get a mortgage as a retired person is not something I think I am interested in. It is not a change I think I want."

Barnes said if she could get a mortgage for the same as she is paying now, between her $240 rent for the pad and her on-going mortgage, she might think about it.

But there is still the uncertainty about Macdonald’s opinion that the trailers’ days are numbered and anyone buying the lots is unlikely to want to keep the trailers in the long term. That decreases the value of Barnes’ investment and offers her little comfort that the sale of her home will provide enough money for her to move into a rest home as she ages.

"Obviously I will be an awkward position then," she said.

Macdonald has already met with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation about financing for the residents of Britannia Beach, although it is early days yet.

At the meeting he said the lots would be offered to current residents first at a discount. But if the price were too much then rental agreements would be worked on through the Land Tenure Society.

He is hopeful and points to an almost identical scenario at Horn Lake, north of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, a property he bought in 2001. That property had 357 renters. All bought their property and thanks to a strong real estate market most have almost doubled their investment.

Macdonald’s Horn Lake deal included purchasing 2,023 hectares of Saltspring Island.

The sale of that property, and the logging of 150,000 cubic metres of timber, caused uproar amongst some segments of the community on the island. There were pickets outside of Macdonald’s downtown Vancouver office and one protester did a Lady Godiva ride in the city’s core as well.

But Macdonald thinks it is unlikely the Britannia Beach development will spark any protest.

His plan calls for hundreds fewer dwelling lots than the community plan allows for.

"The existing official plan allows for 1,000 homes, whether single family or multi-family," said Macdonald in an interview.

"I think that is way, way too dense. I just can’t believe that is appropriate."

What he believes is appropriate is maintaining the culture and look of Britannia.

"I think it could just end up looking fantastic, although it is starting from something that is run down for a variety of reasons," he said.

"I think over time it is going to be a very cute community."

Macdonald has a consultant on standby to advise residents on historic colour schemes and he hopes development will follow designs capitalizing on the area’s mining history.

The hope is that the Mining Museum and the community will get together to develop.

The University of British Columbia, in partnership with National Resources Canada is also planning on building a state of the art facility at Britannia Beach to look into best practices in mining. It too will work with the community as it plans its look.

The proposals and development are a far cry from other scenarios the community has dealt with.

"All in all I believe (Rob Macdonald) to be very sincere in his proposals and they are great whether we buy or we continue to operate as a rental community," said Cook, who is a partner in Betty’s Best Mushrooms and runs the Mountain Woman eatery in Britannia.

"Making the houses fit in and building around the mining theme has never been proposed before.

"It was always, ‘lets wipe this little town off the face of the map and start over again.’

"So we are having a total 180 degree turn. It is interesting times."