B.C.’s Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) has nixed a plan to develop an international school in Powell River that would have served up to 200 Chinese students.
In a November ruling, the ALC denied an application to exempt 30 acres of agricultural land for the Sino Bright School campus.
Powell River Mayor Dave Formosa reacted to the decision with shock.
“I read the ruling three times,” he said. “You read it and just shake your head.”
Formosa said that the panel concluded the land should be preserved for agriculture, “even though the land is not that good for farming, even though it would be extremely expensive to prepare it to be farmed and even though the amount of farming you’d actually be able to do with it is quite limited.”
“We’re extremely disappointed in the decision,” said Powell River school district superintendent Jay Yule.
Yule said there was other school district land in the area that could potentially be used, but he did not know the status of the land.
Powell River could use the investment, he noted.
“Our concern is that there might be other options for [Sino Bright] outside of Powell River,” said Yule. “There was a real feeling that this would go through.”
