Take Action: Submit Your Comment on East Sooke Development

TAKE ACTION

Submit your comment using the form below.

Every submission matters. Your comment will be prepared as a response to all three linked Crown land applications — 1415403, 1415404, and 1415322 — submitted to the BC Crown Land Applications portal, emailed to CRD Board members, and printed for hand delivery to decision-makers.

MAKE YOUR VOICE COUNT

Know what to ask for.

Whether you want this proposal rejected outright, or locked down with strict conditions, here are the specific asks that carry the most weight. Use these in your comments, emails, and at public meetings.

Ask the Province

Ministry responsible for Crown land tenures

Reject the tenure on this parcel. This is a provincially owned Crown parcel that lies inside the broader East Sooke Regional Park landscape and is currently used by the public as part of that park experience. It should not be locked up for exclusive commercial use.

If not rejected, strictly limit the use. Any approval should be narrowly defined for low‑impact educational programming only, and should explicitly exclude resort, hotel, glamping, marina, event venue, or general commercial camping operations.

Cap built form and occupancy. Set hard limits on the number and size of structures, maximum overnight guests, and vehicle access. Any increase should require a new application with full public notice and review, not an administrative amendment.

Short tenure with regular review. Issue, at most, a 3–5 year tenure with clear performance and impact conditions, including no use escalation, and require a full review before any renewal.

Control transfers and “pivots.” Make any assignment or change of control subject to ministerial approval, with a clear ability to refuse transfers that would shift the operation toward commercial hospitality or resort‑style use.

Avoid permanent, high‑leverage infrastructure. Prohibit new permanent roads, utility upgrades, docks, or moorage that would make it easy for a future proponent to convert the site into a more intensive commercial operation.

Protect the park in the long term. If this Crown parcel remains in public hands after the tenure decision, the Province should work with the CRD to add it to East Sooke Regional Park so its long‑term management matches the surrounding protected landscape.

Ask the CRD

CRD Board and CRD Parks Committee

Formally oppose this tenure. Pass a resolution stating that regional parks and the Crown parcels embedded within them are not appropriate locations for exclusive, for‑profit commercial operations.

Protect park values in the management plan. Update the East Sooke Regional Park Management Plan to clearly discourage or prohibit private commercial tenures and exclusive overnight zones within the park boundary and its interior Crown parcels.

Guarantee public access. Commit to maintaining existing trails, viewpoints, and informal shoreline use areas as open to the public, and oppose any gates, fencing, or “private” signage in places that have long been used as part of the park experience.

Seek permanent protection instead. Work with the Province to pursue acquisition, park dedication, or other permanent protection tools for this Crown parcel so it is managed as park land rather than a standing commercial opportunity.

Demand environmental safeguards. Advocate for rigorous ecological assessment, shoreline buffers, and species protections as conditions on any provincial tenure in this area, and ensure CRD environmental staff can review and comment.

Insist on transparency and local input. Request that the Province formally consult the CRD, local First Nations, and the public on any tenure decisions within or adjacent to East Sooke Regional Park before approvals are granted, including public access to application documents and maps.

Align zoning and policy with park purposes. Review CRD bylaws, policies, and zoning affecting lands around East Sooke Regional Park to ensure they clearly support conservation and low‑impact recreation objectives, and do not inadvertently encourage resort‑style uses at the park edge.

COPY & CUSTOMIZE

Sample comment letters.

Personalized comments carry more weight than form letters. Use these as a starting point — edit them in your own words before sending.

To the Crown Land Tenure Decision‑Maker, Province of British Columbia
cc: Chair, CRD Regional Parks Committee; Director for the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area; CRD Parks

I am writing regarding Crown land files 1415403, 1415404, and 1415322, three linked applications by One With Nature Corp for a commercial outdoor education, wilderness survival, bushcraft, and moorage development within the East Sooke Regional Park landscape, and to express my strong opposition to these Crown land tenure applications.

East Sooke is one of the Capital Region’s most important wild coastlines, with over 50 km of trails and a long history of free public access. Handing exclusive commercial use of Crown land inside this park to a private business is the wrong direction. It risks setting a precedent that parks and adjacent Crown land can be carved up for private profit instead of being protected for ecological values and public enjoyment.

I am deeply concerned about the cumulative impacts of this proposal: new buildings and overnight accommodation on the waterfront, increased vehicle and visitor traffic, “bushcraft” activities and a bow range in sensitive habitat, and the gradual expansion that often follows once roads, utilities, and cleared land exist. These changes are not easily reversed. The Sooke Point development shows how a seemingly modest project can grow over time into a dense resort complex that fundamentally alters a landscape.

Public access is also at risk. The application area overlaps with spaces that the community understands as part of East Sooke Park, including portions of the Coast Trail and surrounding shoreline. No private tenure should be allowed to fence off, gate, or effectively privatize areas that have historically been enjoyed by the public.

For these reasons, I urge you to reject this tenure outright and work with the Capital Regional District to bring this parcel under permanent park protection.

If the Province nevertheless considers approval, then it must come with strict, enforceable conditions:

Limit the tenure purpose narrowly to low-impact educational programming, with explicit prohibitions on resort, hotel, glamping, marina, event venue, and general tourism accommodation.

Cap the number and size of structures, the total built footprint, occupancy, and vehicle access, with any increase requiring a new public process and full review.

Issue only a short-term tenure (no more than 3–5 years) with stringent renewal criteria focused on ecological performance and preventing any commercial “pivot” or intensification.

Require ministerial approval for any transfer or assignment of the tenure, and refuse transfer to resort or large tourism operators whose plans differ from the original educational intent.

Prohibit new permanent roads, power upgrades, docks, or moorage that would make the site attractive as a future resort location.

Protect public access to existing trails and shoreline, with no exclusive-use zones, fencing, or “private” signage in areas that have historically been open to the public.

Require robust environmental assessment, shoreline setbacks, and ongoing monitoring to ensure sensitive ecosystems and wildlife are not degraded.

East Sooke Regional Park is a public treasure, not a commercial development opportunity. Please reject this tenure, or at the very least impose conditions so strict that the land cannot be transformed over time into a private resort at the expense of ecology, public access, and future generations.

[Your name]
[Your community / city]

Your comment goes directly to decision-makers

Fill out the form below. East Sooke Wild will format and deliver your comment on your behalf — or you can copy the text and send it yourself. All submissions through this site are prepared to address the three linked Crown land applications: 1415403, 1415404, and 1415322.

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Submitted to Province

(all 3 proposals)

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Emailed to CRD Board

(chair and directors)

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Printed & Hand Delivered

(by May 6, 2026)

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.