The province has transferred ownership of the 41 hectares making up the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific to the District of Saanich.
The move replaces a dollar-a-year lease for land on Quayle Road near Interurban with an assessed value of nearly $3 million, said Mayor Frank Leonard.
“It’s not an easy thing for the provincial government to do,” Leonard said, given that the transfer shows up as an expenditure in government accounts.
Fundraising for a new pavilion to replace one destroyed by fire in 2011 will be easier now that the public doesn’t have the sense that its donations go to the province, Leonard said. “It was in the best interests of the society.”
Founded in 1979, the centre is known as “a garden for gardeners” that focuses on education, plant diversity and sustainability. It boasts a garden with 10,000 varieties of plants and a conservation woodland, as well as an accredited horticulture college.
The province’s lease was not due to expire until 2042, but Saanich applied for the transfer two years ago.
The announcement was made Tuesday by Ida Chong, MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head, as part of the B.C. government’s sponsored Crown grant program.
Saanich provides about $130,000 in annual operating grants to the centre, according to its 2012 business plan.
The centre was founded by former Saanich mayor and MLA Mel Couvelier, and was so dear to him that he lobbied Premier Christy Clark about the land-ownership transfer plan not long before he died in 2011, Leonard said.
The new Nature’s Greenhouse pavilion will be named for Couvelier.
To donate, go to hcp.ca.
