Council says yes to park…no to developers

Developers have been shut out of the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes Wilderness Area.  Regional Council has voted to turn the area into a regional park covering over 4,100 acres, with about 1,300 acres of it privately-owned.

Developers had applied to build housing on some of the land…but councillors rejected that. The city will have to negotiate access routes across some of that land.

The area has more than 800 species of wildlife including about 300 different bird types.