Roche Point Park gets official protection despite 26-hectare development potential

Roche Point Park isn't legally a park — yet. But North Vancouver's District council is moving to change that, formally dedicating the 26 hectares of wooded land north of Dollarton Highway as parkland, giving it greater protection from future development.

Once a park bylaw is in place, the land must remain in public ownership and be used for park purposes. It can only be removed through a referendum or alternate approval process from voters.

The path to this moment is rooted in 1983, when the District council had plans to extend Roche Point Drive and build a low-density residential neighbourhood through the property. Those plans were shelved due to environmentally sensitive habitat, technical issues, and significant community opposition. But the remnants remain on the books: under the official community plan, four of 23 lots are legally designated for single-family homes, and zoning throughout the area allows for a mix of residential and parks uses. A right-of-way for a road that was never built also persists.

If the municipally-owned property were developed under those 1983 plans, District staff estimate the land would be worth between $107 million and $143 million today. But its ecological value far exceeds that calculus.

David Cook, a retired biologist who has long studied the area's flora and fauna and lobbied for its protection, points to four old-growth Douglas firs estimated to be between 500 and 800 years old. "It's the lowest elevation old-growth forest in the District of North Vancouver," Cook said. "For that reason alone, it should be preserved."

Those trees support a richness of life that second-growth forests lack. The forest has high biodiversity and, Cook said, probably contains the highest number of fungi species of any forest on the North Shore — a major habitat hub.

The campaign to protect the area stretches back decades. In the 1980s, when redevelopment was being considered, local Girl Guides flagged an eagle's nest in one of the trees and wrote to the Aga Khan, who joined the effort to stop the development, Cook recalls.

The motion to solidify the park's status came from District Councillor Lisa Muri. "It's a very special piece of land," she said at the July 27 council meeting. "And I thank staff for going through this because there are complexities with this site because of the multiple identifiable areas of zoning."

Council is expected to hold a public hearing on the changes in September and have the park dedication in place before the Oct. 17 municipal election.