Cluculz Lake Residents To Pursue Legal Action Over Pool Referendum
Cluculz Lake residents and property owners turn out in force to community hall
Cluculz Lake, BC – By an almost unanimous show of hands, residents and property owners attending a packed meeting at the Cluculz Lake Community Hall this afternoon have voted to pursue legal action in the wake of last month’s referendum saddling them with annual operating costs for a proposed $12-million dollar swimming pool in Vanderhoof.
The residents, many of whom live lakeside, don’t want to pay for a pool they don’t plan to use. And they lined up to sign two petitions and to shell out initial contributions for legal costs.
Last month, two referenda were held: one in Vanderhoof seeking support for $180-thousand dollars in annual operating costs, another seeking $100-thousand annually from residents living in Area F of the Bulkley-Nechako Regional District. (click here, for previous story)
As residents of Area F, Cluculz Lake residents will be forced to pay $1.00 for every $1000 of improvements on their property towards the pool’s maintenance. For one of today’s organizers, Dick Martin, that amounts to between $200 to $300 every year for the next 30-years. Martin points out that approximately 95-percent of residents within the Cluculz Lake Fire Protection Area voted no in the referendum and says a number of concerns have been raised about the way the vote was conducted.
Specifically, co-organizer, Randy Holubush, says issues with the referendum include:
- residents of Bobtail Lake, a number of whom live in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island, were not offered a mail-in ballot
- the season of the vote – if it were held in August or September, more residents would have been eligible to vote by virtue of having been at the lake for the past 30-days
- some cases of people being denied the right to vote. ie. one man in attendance had authorization from his wife to vote on her behalf because was sick, but was not allowed to
While Holubush feels Cluculz residents should have been exempt from the referendum, as they were from previous votes on the arena and library in Vanderhoof, he says they can’t appeal the Municipal Bylaw Act. "The only way to win is if we can prove people were denied the right to vote, the vote wasn’t conducted in good faith, and there were irregularities."
The group is up against a tight legal timeframe – an appeal must be registered by March 23rd. Martin has a meeting set for Monday morning with a lawyer. The initial legal costs to file the appeal and get an opinion on the strength of their case is estimated to be $3000 dollars. Martin told the standing room-only crowd that he’s been told the legal battle could run anywhere from $25- to $75-thousand dollars, but pointed out that would be a one-time cost of $100 from each of the 735 property owners at Cluculz compared to the ongoing pool maintenance costs.
Holubush and Martin plan to establish a bank account to hold donations in trust for the legal fees tomorrow at the CIBC in Pine Centre Mall for anyone wanting to contribute. They also plan to hold another meeting to update residents once they receive a legal opinion on the strength of the case.
Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad, a year-round resident at Cluculz Lake, attended today’s meeting. Rustad said he was there to offer any information or support his office could provide. He said he was not aware of any other rural areas in the province being successful in appealing a vote process, but said there seemed to be some good grounds being mentioned by the proponents.
Rustad also offered up the possibility of incorporation, noting the move "has all kinds of implications". After receiving some support for the idea, along with a suggestion that Cluculz Lake become its own seperate rural area, Rustad has promised to get further information from Victoria.
Municipal officials from Vanderhoof and the Bulkley Nechako Regional District representative for Area F, Jerry Petersen, were invited to today’s meeting, but did not attend. Petersen was the director who put forward the referendum motion at the regional district meeting back in September, it was seconded by the District of Vanderhoof’s rep, Mayor Gerry Thiessen.
Comments
Seems nobody is happy these days. If the Provincial Government spent less money in the Greater Vancouver area, and paid more attention to Rural BC maybe some of these smaller towns could have more amenities, without going into debt for 30 years.
A pool in Vanderhoof would be there for people from Ft Fraser, Fraser Lake, Endako, Ft St James, It shouldn’t be too big of a deal for the Government, taxpayers, and some of the industry in the area, to get this project off the ground without screwing the people of Clucuz Lake.
This incident is a microcosm of what is happening all over the country.
Citizens are getting tired of being nothing more than unprotected pockets for governments of all levels to simply pick whenever they choose.
A tax revolt is coming. Politicians of all stripes would do well to remember they are public SERVANTS who work FOR their constituency, not dictatorial bosses who think they know better than the very ones they pleaded with to elect them in the first place.
Everyone is tired of paying Taxes. But the excuse “The residents, many of whom live lakeside, don’t want to pay for a pool they don’t plan to use.” Doesn’t cut it. I have no children and will never have any yet I am still forced to pay school tax so their kids and grandkids can go to school. I would like that removed from my taxes. If they think there is any sympathy for someone who is living on a lake or it is their 2nd home they are mistaking. Suck it up. Why don’t they take that 50k to 75k and donate to a charity to help someone that has nothing.
“Everyone is tired of paying Taxes. But the excuse “The residents, many of whom live lakeside, don’t want to pay for a pool they don’t plan to use.” Doesn’t cut it.”
Bingo.
Here is a List of would be nice Things to have:
Fire Protection
Natural Gas
Low cost High Speed Internet
Paved Roads
Public Transportation
but since we don’t live in Town it won’t be.
So why make us pay for a Pool many miles away from where we reside ? Lets get back to the basics , a Pool is not!
It sounds like there was a problem with the way the vote was conducted. You would think that with there being a lot of ‘seasonal’ properties there that they would have made some provisions for those people to vote without having to attend at Clucuz Lake or Vanderhoof?
Or maybe that was the intent……to deny them a reasonable opportunity to vote no?
Bentley…Cluculz Lake does not object to there being pool for Vanderhoof Fraser Lake and Ft.St. James but why should the seasonal property owners be and tax base for this and not the full time residents of Ft.St. James and Fraser Lke. When they (FL and FSJ) were asked if they wantedto vote and become part of the tax base to pay for the pool they said “No thank you”. So Jerry Pettersen Area F Electoral directer and on th Pool Committee offered up Area F to help pay…..this is the 3rd time th pool ha ben voted on. If u keep manipulating the vote eventually you get what you want.
Fraserlake and the Fort are incorporated they have a mayor and council that can make these decisions and build there own pool.
I live in area F but on the other side but just as far, I believe everyone in the area should pay. We will be too.
Prince George has 2 pools one of which the City of Prince George is contemplating finding an operator for. We could offer it to Vanderhoof and they could run bus service on a daily bases and utilize fully and get the tax payer of Vanderhoof to pay for this service and it would be cheaper than what they are asking for. The people who own property in Cluculz Lake are not saying you can’t have a pool just don’t expect the property owner that are 90% seasonal to be expected to drive past there property in the winter month’s as the word seasonal indicated they are not there in winter and go swim in a pool we’ re going to get taxed on. All those people that feel it is fair should send a cheque bases on the same formula we are going to have to pay taxes on to enable Vanderhoof to have. It will only cost you an additional $200.00 to $400.00 plus per year for 30 years. By then you will be dead like me and it won’t matter,your children or there’s can keep paying.
Perhaps your neighbours need a new car and they can hold a vote stacked in there favor and you can pay for it. Seems fair
Does anyone know when the next Electoral Area F elections are? Also if Mayor Thiessen wants our tax dollars for the pool why can’t we vote in the Vanderhoof Municipal election …I guess we r only good for our money. I like the idea of having our own Electoral are G but I am sure the RDBN would fight that tooth and nail. Maybe the RDFFG would like us…maybe Bobtail and Cluculz can join up with Bednesti and Norman….
Palopu has it right. Where is the province in helping pay for basic amenities like a community pool.
The mayors of Vancouver and Surrey are fighting it out trying to convince the province that they should be putting billions of tax dollars into a new rapid transit line in their backyard. And you can bet both will be using all their political weight to lobby all parties heading to the election in May.
Meanwhile the true wealth creators in this province, us in northern and rural BC, are forced to fight among ourselves for the scraps left over as the real money from our resources flows into provincial coffers to pay for mega projects in the lower mainland.
The province paid more than a half a billion for a new roof on Vancouver’s sports stadium so why not help make life better in rural BC by coughing up a few million?
“Meanwhile the true wealth creators in this province, us in northern and rural BC”
Bunch of BS being sold to most of us.
Who us the wealth creator in this scenario?
1. farmer sticks potato seed into ground and harvests it.
2. shipper takes harvest and ships it to processors.
3. processors makes potato chips, frozen fries, potato flakes, etc. and markets the products
4. shipper takes products and ships it to wholesalers
5. wholesaler stores and markets products to retail outlets
6. shippers ship products from warehouses to final destinations.
7. retailers â grocery and convenience stores as well as restaurants sell directly or incorporate products into final meal for end consumer.
So, in the value added chain, where are the jobs and who makes the most money from that simple agricultural (natural resource) product? Geographically, where are the jobs created and the money extracted from that original product?
One can apply the same wealth creation analysis to trees, cattle, oil, fish, natural gas, hydro, etc. Just because one has the original feedstock does not mean that is where the wealth is created.
PEI has it right. They have the potatoes and they manufacture the potato products.
We have it wrong. We have the trees, but only partially manufacture the end products. When it comes to PG, we do not even produce paper products here.
BTW, I would love ANY BC political party to come forward to promote the building of communities in the various hinterlands of the province through placing value added manufacturing closer to where the feedstock resources are extracted. Not a single party is interested in that.
When one looks at interprovincial migration tables over the last 25 years as well as foreign immigration numbers there have been stagnation as well as total net losses in all areas other than the Okanagan, the island, the GVRD and the south Coast.
25 years of stagnation!!!!!
Nor one cares. THAT is the take away story for me.
Good luck cluculz lake res. your going to need it.
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