View Royal Secures a Little More Piece of Peace

The Town of View Royal just became the proud owner of an approximately 1.78 hectare (4.4 acre) vacant agricultural property located at 1642 Little Road in the Watkiss Way/Helmcken Road area.

The land was purchased from long-time owners, the Henson family, for $750,000 with funds for the purchase coming from Development Cost Charges. This account was established with a view to buying larger parcels of land for the municipality. These are funds set aside by the Town from the development community over a number of years for parkland and open space acquisition.

“In this growing neighbourhood, Council saw a rare opportunity to buy a significant parcel of land and took that opening” noted Mayor David Screech. “It is Council’s intention that this piece of land be added to the Town’s significant inventory of parks and greenspace and a plan be developed for it in the future. This property ticks the boxes of contributing to the ‘beauty of the Town with its natural areas, parks and rural setting’ – features that residents identified in our 2019 Community Satisfaction and Engagement Survey as to why they rate the quality of life in View Royal so highly.”

Adjacent to Eagle Creek Park, the property will add more greenspace to the Hospital Neighbourhood and ensure View Royal has the land in place to deliver community amenities for all residents. No plan has been prepared for this open space yet and the Mayor notes “We look forward to working with our community on a plan to submit for approval to the Agricultural Land Commission. When that planning begins, we will certainly be promoting it on our social media as we will be seeking public input into that work.”

                                     (Purchased property on right-hand side of fence)

 

        (Purchased property shown in dark outline and labelled "Newly Purchased Land")