Westbank First Nation now owns a piece of West Kelowna, but the land won’t be part of the municipality for long.

WFN Chief Robert Louie confirms that his band purchased an orchard at 990 Devon Rd., as planned, over the summer. The band officially took possession of the property on Sept. 25.

Louie would not disclose the purchase price, nor will the former property owner.

The band is saying little about its plans for the land, except to say that it will continue to be operated as an orchard, or possibly a vineyard, for the short term.

However, West Kelowna council is talking about the property.

While council said earlier this year that it supported in principle the band’s purchase of the land, Mayor Doug Findlater also wrote B.C. Community Development Minister Bill Bennett seeking compensation for property tax and potential development revenues that the municipality will lose, when the federal government grants the property reserve status.

“When development occurs on the property, annual municipal tax revenue, at current tax rates, would range from a low of $2,747 per million dollars of assessed value for residential development to a high of $9,341 per million for major industrial development,” said Findlater.

“Given the size of the parcel under discussion, one could expect future development value to be in the multi-millions.”

If a $30-million to $50-million development occurred on the land, for example, the lost annual contribution to the District of West Kelowna would range from $201,000 to $336,000, said Findlater.

It should be noted that the land is currently in the Agricultural Land Reserve and would likely remain farmland if it remained freehold property in West Kelowna.

Theoretically, significant residential subdivision would never occur, but a large winery, with a price-tag in the range Findlater mentioned, could be built alongside a vineyard on the property.

However, it is conceivable that the band will make other land purchases inside West Kelowna in the future, council noted.

But no provincial compensation is available for municipalities which lose tax revenue due to boundary reductions, according to Bennett.

However, the minister noted, in some cases, where a reduction in municipal boundaries has occurred, local governments have entered into agreements with First Nations to provide services that may help mitigate tax impacts.

Meanwhile, Louie says the band will likely develop the eight-hectare orchard sometime after it becomes part of WFN reserves because First Nations are not bound by terms of the provincial government’s Agricultural Land Reserve.

After the property is granted WFN reserve status, the band will create a long-term plan for the parcel, said Louie.

For now though, a pending land transfer agreement also restricts use of the property, noted Louie.

The Devon Road lot is to be part of an eventual land swap between the WFN and the B.C. Ministry of Transportation, to replace band property lost on Bridge Hill due to construction of the provincial government’s Campbell Road interchange project.

The transportation ministry holds a multi-year lease on the WFN’s property for the time being, but would like to purchase it to make the land a permanent piece of the provincial highway system.

Under the terms of the WFN’s constitution and self-government agreement, however, the band cannot lose reserve land and can’t sell the Bridge Hill property to the province unless the parcel can be replaced by land of equal or greater size that can be granted reserve status.

The Devon Road property is that proposed replacement.

Louie said it’s impossible for him to say how long the replacement process will take. Similar applications on the eastside of Okanagan Lake lasted several years after the band purchased land in and around Kelowna to compensate for lands lost in the 1980s from the widening of Highway 97 on the Westside.

In future, the band will also need to be compensated for lands it is now losing due to construction of e Westside Road interchange.

jluciw@kelownacapnews.com