Residents of the North Thompson Valley have decisively turned down a proposal to create a Geopark in the valley.
According to Carolyn Black, corporate officer for the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, a total of 1,042 elector response forms were received by the deadline of 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 5.
This represents about 16 per cent of the eligible electors within the proposed service area, more than half again the number of negative votes needed to turn down the proposal.
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The estimated number of eligible electors within the service area was estimated by the regional district to be 6,568. Only 10 per cent of that number, or 657, was needed to reject the proposal.
“In accordance with Section 86 of the Community Charter, the results confirm that there is insufficient support for the establishment of the North Thompson Geopark service area through the alternative approval process and that elector approval has not been obtained,” Black stated.
Willow MacDonald, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District director for Area B (Thompson Headwaters), posted on social media Wednesday evening that the proposal for a North Thompson Geopark had received more than the 10 per cent No votes needed.
MacDonald wrote, “I just thought Area B, Blue River and Avola residents would like to know that the counter-petition votes were counted regarding the NT Geopark Service and the minimum number no-votes was received by the TNRD. Where we go from here will be decided by the board.”
The proposal would have seen the North Thompson Valley from south of Barriere to north of Blue River included in an application for Global Geopark status through UNESCO. The service area would have included Electoral Areas “A” (Wells Gray Country, “B” (Thompson Headwaters), and “O” (Lower North Thompson), as wells as the District of Barriere and the District of Clearwater
The TNRD board decided earlier this summer to put the proposal to an alternative approval process. That meant that if 10 per cent of the electors within the proposed service area sent in forms saying they were opposed, then the proposal would not go ahead.
The cost of the Geopark service would not exceed the greater of $150,000 or 12.2 cents per $1,000 of net taxable value of land and improvements.
For a residence with the average value of $145,000, that would work out to a tax increase of $11.30 per year.
Geopark is an area recognized by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as having exceptional geological heritage with a natural landscape that is managed within a framework of protection, education and sustainable development.
