Postponed Parks & environment

Park inventory prioritization plan

A $100,000 study to list the Town's parks and set priorities for them. On July 23, 2025, Council moved it from 2028 to 2029.

Amount
$100,000
Got
$0
Where it stands
To 2029. Moved by the Eaglecrest funding plan, Jul 2025.

What it is

The Park Inventory Prioritization Plan is a planned study. The Town has not published a detailed description of it. Its title suggests it would list the Town's parks and green spaces and help decide which need work first.

The budget is $100,000. On July 23, 2025, Council approved a plan to pay for the Eaglecrest Golf Course purchase. That plan took $400,000 from the Strategic Initiatives Reserve, a Town fund for Council's planned projects. It also pushed 33 planned project budgets back by a year, including this one. The resolution says each deferred item waits one year, or until the Strategic Initiatives Reserve is paid back from future land sales.

What happened

  1. November 10, 2023At strategic planning, staff listed this study as pushed from 2027 to 2028 or later because of new provincial housing laws.
  2. July 23, 2025Council moved the $100,000 from 2028 to 2029 as part of the Eaglecrest funding plan (4–1, Councillor Harrison opposed).
  3. October 22, 2025The same deferral was attached to the amended 2025–2029 Financial Plan.
  4. April 1, 2026The adopted 2026–2030 Financial Plan shows $100,000 for this study in 2029.

Why it matters

  • The Town's parks page says it has over 280 hectares of parks and green space and 14 km of maintained trails.
  • The July 2025 staff report said about 40 per cent of the Eaglecrest property would become forested parkland with walking trails.
  • In 2023, staff suggested that conservation area (OECM) management plans wait until after this study is done.
  • The Town's 2025 Annual Report lists a work backlog in Parks and says higher service levels have not been matched by more staff.
  • Staff said the Qualicum Commons lease and the Eaglecrest purchase were not in their work plans for 2025 or 2026, so other planned work had to move.
  • The 2026–2030 Financial Plan says Council's ability to go ahead with 2027 and later initiatives depends on paying back the Strategic Initiatives Reserve.

Sources

Last checked September 18, 2026. Report a mistake.