Here is the answer to one enquirer:
The Crippen Park lands are central to the Parks Canada's vision of what an NP would look like and how it would function as an 'urban engagement' portal. No question they really want those lands, they want the Old General Store (library), and they will even put up with being saddled with the Orchard cabins. Parks Canada cannot, by law, expropriate. It has to negotiate.
Metro Vancouver Parks will not 'hand over' lands except under duress. Period. Even though a lot of Metro Parks land came as gifts from senior governments, they see that as a one way street. Recently, there have been several sales and acquisitions of lands for the Regional Park system, all at market value. The only outlier was the 22 hectare chunk of Pacific Spirit Park that was handed over to the Musqueam as part of a third party deal involving the UBC golf course and the provincial government. Metro protested, took the province to court, and lost.
Metro also highly values the integrity of IT'S park system (ie- it is proud and proprietous). Crippen has been evaluated - in multiples of $10's of millions.....
So- Metro wants money or a land trade to give up Crippen. PC wants Crippen badly.
Unfortunately, neither party wants to push the envelope in terms of alternate arrangements other than outright ownership. Both hide behind their statutes which say that they cannot spend money to manage lands they do not control. So my push for some sort of co-management arrangement has largely fallen on deaf ears.
There are two changes though, which might make that a more viable option. First, are personnel changes at both Metro and PC. Richard Carson seems willing to do 'what it takes' to see a park happen. Gaetan Royer, newly installed at Metro, is a visionary. Second, with the plans for Rouge Valley near Toronto:
PC has had to change their ideas about land ownership. Currently, Rouge Valley has multiple owners, many existing developments- including a zoo, and PC will have to be very flexible to assemble all the lands they want.
I still believe there are models that could work- from a simple lease, to PC paying for the right to put up signs 'Welcome to Crippen Park- Gateway to the NP' sort of thing..., whereby they (PC) pay for some trail etc upgrades, perhaps mentor or collaborate with Metro Parks. So a wink wink kind of way of gaining access to Crippen without a land transfer.
I suspect that could be palatable to Metro and Bowen citizens. It really is a question of how flexible Ottawa could be- as PC officials have said that co-management of any kind would require a change to the Parks Act- not an easy thing to do. But I have been led to believe there could be creative workarounds.
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