The Proposal
What is being proposed?
One With Nature Corp has filed three linked Crown land applications with the Province of BC for a commercial outdoor education, wilderness survival, bushcraft, and moorage development in East Sooke. The site in question is provincial Crown land. It is not currently part of East Sooke Regional Park, because the Capital Regional District has never acquired or designated this particular parcel as regional parkland. These three applications must be understood together, not as isolated proposals.
The application covers a 71.75 hectare area, with an "intensive use site" of 4.87 hectares on the waterfront. The proposed infrastructure includes:
Cabins and overnight accommodation structures on the waterfront
A bow hunting range within the park boundary
Kayak storage, a carving station, and communal program areas
Private commercial operations displacing public trail access
Potential impacts on the park's iconic Coast Trail
Crown land is public land held in trust for all British Columbians. The parcel under this proposal is provincial Crown land that is not part of East Sooke Regional Park, but lies directly alongside it. It cannot be bought and sold like private property, but a provincial tenure can give a private operator long‑term, exclusive use of the site. The roads, buildings, and other infrastructure built under such a tenure are often difficult to remove, and once a commercial operation is established in this location, further expansion applications become much easier to justify.
One proposal, three Crown land files
This is not a single, simple application. One With Nature Corp has filed three connected applications (linked below) for the same overall commercial concept in East Sooke:
- File 1415403 — the intensive use site for the main outdoor education, wilderness survival, and bushcraft facility, including cabins, learning areas, practice areas, tent camping, and washrooms.
- File 1415404 — the extensive use area surrounding the intensive use site, tied to the same commercial operation.
- File 1415322 — the commercial wharf / moorage application intended to support access, supplies, and kayak activity for the upland commercial uses.
Comments submitted through this website should refer to all three file numbers so the Province cannot review the project piecemeal.
The Sooke Ocean Point precedent
This concern is not hypothetical. In 1996, a developer purchased the Silver Spray lands at Possession Point in East Sooke with a vision for a destination resort community. The original concept was large in scale – hundreds of homes plus a lodge, golf course, and marina – and was initially rejected by the Capital Regional District before later versions were approved after years of controversy, redesigns, and legal disputes. Over time, through successive approvals and rebranding, a portion of the site evolved into what is now marketed as the SookePoint Ocean Cottage Resort, a dense, cliff‑edge resort and real‑estate development built immediately beside a large wilderness park. Public records and the developer’s own marketing materials show that construction and expansion at SookePoint are still ongoing, with additional phases, units, and amenities contemplated under existing zoning.
The lesson for this proposal is about process, not personalities. A project that begins as a “modest” or carefully framed use can, through incremental approvals over many years, grow into a much larger and more intensive commercial footprint than many residents originally expected. Documented experience at Silver Spray/SookePoint shows how important strong conditions, transparent zoning, and ongoing public oversight are if the community wishes to avoid unanticipated escalation at the edge of a protected natural area.
This summary is based on publicly available news reports, land‑use documents, and the developer’s own marketing and disclosure materials, and is provided to illustrate how resort proposals can evolve over time.
(c) Tripadvisor
Trusted Information & Sources
View credible, third‑party information behind this campaign, including government documents, maps, and news coverage about the East Sooke development proposal.
One comment, delivered in many ways
Submitting through this website helps concentrate public input where it will be seen.
When you submit through this website, your comment is prepared as a response to all three linked Crown land applications — 1415403, 1415404, and 1415322. It is submitted to the BC Crown Land Applications portal, emailed to CRD Parks staff and the Regional Parks Committee, included in a printed package hand-delivered to the CRD before the May 6, 2026 deadline, included in an East Sooke Wild community submission, and published here as part of the public record using only your first name and city/community.