Qualicum Commons....small print $590,000.

Lack of transparency continues with respect to the Town's involvement with the Qualicum Commons property and now it appears the Town has allocated $590,000 in a contingency fund for emergency capital repairs to the building.

To date the only information publicly released includes:

Sept 4th 2024 - Press release announcing a collaboration with the School Board

June 20 2025 - Press release confirming the Town has assumed responsibility for the building and grounds as of July 1 2025 through a one year lease with options for renewals.

Oct 22 2025 - A staff report to council dated October 22 2025 updating the 2025-2029 financial plan bylaw to include all the amendments approved by council since the original adoption of the Town's financial plan on March 19/2025. Buried in this report is commentary confirming that council approved an allocation of $590,000 taken from the Community Amenity Contribution (CAC) received from the Eaglecrest Drive rezoning. The report stated that the funds were to address maintenance requirements for the Qualicum Commons building as directed by council at the March 12, 2025 in camera (closed) meeting. From my searches, it appears that details of this closed meeting were never released to the public.

It is interesting to note that the CAC was $1,090,000 to recognize the property value lift from rezoning 850 Eaglecrest which was negotiated sometime in 2021/ 2022. On June 8th 2022, the previous council passed a resolution to allocate these funds -- 50% for parkland and environment conservation and 50% for local healthcare. I cannot find a council motion to rescind this resolution however, keeping track of CAC allocations in this town is similar to keeping track of future NHL draft picks. However, like hockey draft picks, reallocations of funding should be conducted in open meetings.

Virtually all of the Qualicum Commons property transactions have been conducted in closed meetings including the discussion around the physical state of the building, tenants' ability to pay and what the Town's intention is in the long term for this property, which as you may be aware, they do not currently own. The public has never been provided with the Town's operational plan for the Commons, building condition report, schedule of immediate repairs required nor do we have any indication of the current and future costs that the Town is absorbing to keep the building operating. All we have is $590,000 taken from the CAC fund and put into a contingency fund for emergency capital repairs for the Commons building.

The source of the funding is important. Town Policy 3008-11 outlines the purpose and use of Community Amenity Contributions. Using these funds to cover maintenance on the Commons building appears to be out of step with the Town's CAC policy which includes:

1)CAC's should reflect current community needs based on the OCP and Council's Strategic Plan,

2)There should be a clear link between the proposed amenity and the probable impacts of a rezoning,

It is hard to come up with reasoning that would show a clear link between up-zoning one of the estate land properties near Eaglecrest into 16 single family home lots and funding emergency capital repairs at the Commons for a building which the Town does not own. Page 83 of the OCP, Village Institutional section, which covers the Commons property, makes no reference to the property specifically, referring only to the ongoing support of the high school location. In terms of strategic planning, a building beyond its useful life, as assessed by the school board, could hardly be considered progressive infrastructure.

Council has a duty to justify to the citizens of QB in open meetings, why they are spending taxpayer monies and how they intend to fund projects. I see nothing in the Community Charter that would permit council to close a meeting to allocate money from the CAC fund. So I ask myself why did they do it? An unpopular decision is not a valid reason to close meeting from public scrutiny. When will full transparency return so that the public can be informed about how their taxpayer monies are being spent with respect to the Commons property?

Marie Noel

December 22 2025

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You can email us at QualicumBeachInsights@gmail.com

More info

Staff Report October 22 2025 see page 5 link page 5

Press Release link June20 2025

Town policy link CAC