CRD acquires $1.5M in land to add to East Sooke Regional Park

The newly acquired land is shown. (CRD)

A large parcel of land that was identified by community members as an important area for wildlife in East Sooke has been acquired by the Capital Regional District.

The CRD purchased the 15.9-hectare parcel from Vancouver Island-based developer Sansa Construction Ltd. for $1.5 million

The property is part of a parcel that once belonged to Canadian musician Burton Cummings, who put up for sale a total of 27 hectares of land in the area earlier this year.

The entire 27-hectare parcel of land that was discussed is shown. (Submitted)

When the land was initially put on the market, it sparked a petition from concerned community members who were hoping that the land would be left undeveloped and added to East Sooke Regional Park.

Sansa Construction president Kory Gronnestad says the CRD later approached the company with an interest in purchasing the land.

The company agreed to sell more than half the property to the CRD, and is holding on to 11 hecatres of the land for future development.

Gronnestad says the company does not have any current plans to build on the property yet, but when it does it will scale with the neighbourhood.

"It won't be rezoned to high density or anything like that," he told CTV News.

Gronnestad added that he was happy to see some of the property turned into parkland.

The CRD says the newly acquired land is home to "large carnivores" and is a habitat for the warty jumping-slug, which falls under Canada's Species at Risk Act.

"The new property will be left in its natural state to buffer the park’s existing boundaries and to protect biodiversity and wildlife habitat," said the CRD in a release Wednesday.

East Sooke Regional Park now measures 1,474 hectares large with the addition of the new land. The park acts as a green corridor between Anderson Cove down to the Juan de Fuca Strait.