Campbell River residents rally outside City Hall over development, park paving concerns

Campbell River residents rally outside City Hall over development, park paving concerns

Published 9:30 am Friday, September 25, 2026

Community residents gathered on the lawn of Campbell River City Hall on September 24, an hour before that evening’s council meeting, to voice frustration over a string of development and land-use decisions they say council has pushed through without adequate public input.

The demonstration centred on several contentious issues: a proposal to convert part of Pinecrest Park to additional parking at Strathcona Gardens; a plan by WestUrban Developments to build housing along Simms Creek, a salmon-bearing wetland; a proposed expansion of the city’s urban containment boundaries to the north and south; a bid to open the currently vehicle-free ERT corridor to traffic; and a proposed data centre on the old pulp mill site north of downtown.

Lucas Schuller, who is running for council, opened the rally, which was also attended by council candidates including Joëlle Samson, Laird Ruehlen, Brittany Colville and mayoral candidate Andy Speck.

Lucas told the crowd that many residents across the community share these same frustrations, describing the rally as an opportunity for people to see they are not alone and pointing to the upcoming Oct. 17 election as a key moment to create change.

The rally featured a mix of live music and speeches. Neil Calvert lives two blocks from Pinecrest Park and walks it daily, described the park’s wildlife and constant community use — soccer games, picnics, dog walkers, golfers — and argued the loss of green space couldn’t be offset by the arena and turf facilities it would help support.

“This must surely rank as one of the poorest examples of city planning in the history of Campbell River,” he said, adding that he is not opposed to the arena or turf field themselves, only to the idea of converting the park into a parking lot.

Steve Wood detailed a pending judicial review filed by former school board trustee Dave Harper, arguing the Strathcona Regional District failed to disclose the Pinecrest Park parking expansion during the public approval process for the Strathcona Gardens project’s borrowing authority. Wood also criticized the city for cancelling public hearings and, in some cases, not responding to residents’ requests to appear as delegations at council.

That judicial review is currently before the courts.

Barb Brown of Save Simms Creek confirmed that WestUrban representatives told the group’s board they are scaling their proposal from a four-storey building down to three storeys to conform with zoning but on the same footprint, which still extends over the wetland.

“We are not giving up this fight yet,” she said, urging attendees to research candidates ahead of the election. “Now it’s time for all of you to do your jobs.”

Alan Banner, whose letter to council in January helped spark a petition against opening the ERT to vehicle traffic, said the petition is nearing 600 signatures.

He argued the proposal conflicts with the city’s own Official Community Plan, which calls for completing the “recreational greenways loop” as an active transportation corridor and said a public hearing on the OCP produced a final document “basically identical” to the draft that preceded it.

Gloria Hesterman closed the speaker portion of the rally by criticizing the disbanding of council’s advisory committees since 2022. She quoted mayoral candidate Andy Speck’s observation that the city once had, “a much broader network of advisory committees that gave council access to voices and expertise from across our community.”

Hesterman argued the pending amendment to the urban containment boundary near Jubilee Parkway is not the done deal some residents have been told it is.

“The only day there is full democracy is the day we vote,” she said.

Mayor Kermit Dahl, responding ahead of the rally, struck a conciliatory tone. “Community discussion and engagement are not only welcomed, but they are also expected and encouraged,” he said, acknowledging that Pinecrest Park, the Quinsam Heights Transportation Study and other development files “are not simple” and “involve multiple partners” and jurisdictions.

He pointed residents toward project updates on the city’s website, copies of which were handed out by city staff at the beginning of the rally.