The City of Nanaimo spent nearly $2.2 million to purchase two plots of land, which will eventually be added to Loudon Park on Long Lake.
The two plots of land next to the park on Victoria Ave are now owned by the city at a cost of $1.2 million for 4246 Victoria Ave and $986,751 for 4288 Victoria Ave.
Mayor Leonard Krog says there is currently no approved plan in place for upgrades and a boathouse at the park since council reconsidered a plan in May, which would have cost about $10 million.
BACKGROUND: Nanaimo council puts off decision on Loudon Park boat house
The $10 million project would have included a boathouse and training facility for the Long Lake Flat Water Training Society, as well as a multipurpose room, accessible washrooms and a new playground.
Krog says the acquisition does not represent a new option for the park upgrades but offers potential to move forward in a way that will make the amenity more desirable for more park users.
“It’s not really an option per se, it is an addition to the park which makes it perhaps easier to provide or build a facility in a way that won’t upset certain folks who weren’t prepared to see the fir trees behind us, or some of them, come down,” he says. “So, it gives further opportunity and it does enhance what is a very small but well used park.”
Krog says he does not think the new land will have an impact on the budget for options presented for the park previously.
“It’s going to be used as parkland. It has value in and of itself, not just as potentially part of a building site within the park,” he says, adding he believes the longer the city waits to replace the current facilities at the park, the more it will cost.
He says the two buildings will likely be rented out until a decision is made for park upgrades and how to use the new land.
