Plans to develop the Peace Valley Lookout into a regional park have been scrapped.
Despite affording the view of a beautiful valley panorama, the site was historically used as a garbage dump. Citing instability of the land following site assessments and feasibility studies conducted since 2009, the Peace River Regional District decided the area’s risk was too great to justify spending the $1 million it had planned for park development.
“If a private organization came forward and said, ‘We see a value and we’d like to do something with that,’ they would certainly have the support of all the members of the board,” said PRRD director Bruce Christensen. “Certainly it is a wonderful spot, but to spend good taxpayers’ money on something that might slide down a hill doesn’t seem like a good idea.”
The PRRD board voted to write a letter to Peace River North MLA Pat Pimm “strongly suggesting” the provincial government undertake development of the area.
In 2011, the province committed $12,000 to help stimulate economic development and beautification of the Lookout area. Pimm said he was surprised to learn of the PRRD’s decision.
“I always thought that it was high on the PRRD list,” Pimm said, adding he considers development of the area a priority to be kept in mind. “And anytime I get extra funds, we’ll do what we can to upgrade it to make it as a nice as possible a place. It’s one of the nicer viewpoints in the country,” he said.
Fencing and tables were installed after the removal of waste in 2011. However, some of those additions had to be moved after minor landslides.
