10255

$995,000

Parcel A (DD2862N) of Lot 43, Block 29, Comox Land District, Plan 2262

$2,261 (2009)

RU – ALR (RURAL Agricultural Land Reserve)

Older house of little value

Timber harvest and create pasture/farm

A large pristine heavily timbered woodland property with 13,500 cubic meters of wood (all species, 2007 cruise) fairly level with several small marshy areas. The property is zoned RU – ALR (Agricultural Land Reserve) and has an older home along with a few outbuildings. It fronts on two fairly busy roads (Headquarters and Merville) and is only minutes from Courtenay. The locale is made up of larger farms along with a mix of small rural holdings and woodlots.

On the east coast of Vancouver Island just 10 minutes north of Courtenay in the Merville area.

From Courtenay north on the old Hiway (19A) to the Merville store, turn left and go 1.6k to the start of the property (House) keep going to Headquarters road and turn left and go down app. 6/10 of a km to the end of the property.

Paved road, cable, hydro, telephone, septic and shallow well

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The region is one of the fastest growing in British Columbia. Its growth is mostly due to a building boom in Courtenay, but other parts of the area are being suggested for development, including Cumberland and Union Bay. The area is best described as a postmodern society in which service jobs have exceeded 50% of the employment opportunities. The growth industries are tourism and construction, with the Canadian Forces in the form of CFB Comox having long provided significant economic stability since the decline of logging and mining in the region after the 1960's and fishing in the 1990's.

Originally developed as an agricultural settlement in the 1860's in the wake of the Fraser Gold Rush, the area became the centre of one of the British Empire's largest private railway concerns, the Comox Logging & Railway Company. Comox Logging owned Block 29, one of the world's best stands of Douglas Fir timber, stretching from south of Courtenay well to the north of Campbell River. This stand is now owned by TimberWest and is being cut for the second time. For many years, logging provided the largest single pay cheque in the community, but since most workers in the industry commuted to camps and logging operations further north on the Island or the mainland Coast, the Field lumber mill in Courtenay was disassembled in the fall of 2006. The legacy of the Comox Valley's once proud forests is scattered amongst small woodlots on individual farms, or in isolated parks that give a sense of the timber wealth once drawn from the region.

The wealth of today lies in its combination of natural beauty and rich cultural scene. Besides the many music and arts festivals the region has a legacy of dramatic and musical instruction in its high schools and through the Comox Valley Youth Music Centre (CYMC), which draws students from around the world. The community is also rich in its numerous volunteer and non-profit organizations devoted to cultural pursuits. The many small communities in the region also boast a wealth of education and skills, and a devotion to 'place' that gives each neighbourhood and hamlet an inviting texture and atmosphere. For these reasons, as well as relatively mild (for Canada) climate, the Comox Valley is very attractive to people looking for small town and rural alternatives to suburban homogenization and urban congestion. With air service direct to Calgary and points south and east, as well as Edmonton, Albertans have in recent years become a major driver of the real estate and population boom.

In 1991 an excavation took place and what was removed were the bones of an elasmosaur. Coast Salish Indians were the first human inhabitants of the Comox Valley but their history is much more recent then the 80 million years ago the 10 metre marine reptile lived in the shallow sea that is now the Comox Valley. A reconstruction of the elasmosaur is now on display in the Courtenay Museum.

The first non-native settlers arrived in 1862 when the Hudson Bay Company sent a group of 60 people to farm the area. One year later coal found on the Tsable River, west of Buckley, resulted in the opening of the first mine.

In 1864 the community of Union was founded when coal was found in what is now the Cumberland area. Robert Dunsmuir, and his son James, who commissioned and built Craigdarroch and Hatley Castles in the Victoria area, bought all the coal rights in the area in the 1880's. The town of Cumberland was founded in 1889 and was incorporated nine years later. The Cumberland Museum has displays and artifacts from this colourful time or visit the businesses on the main street where the architecture reflects the past. In 1910 the Comox Logging and Railroad Co. was founded and for a time was the largest logging company in the British Empire. The rich heritage left behind by the logging is reflected by many of the street names found in the area.

The strategic defence location of Canadian Forces Base Comox was opened in 1942. Except for a brief closure after WW II this only Canadian air base on the West Coast has been the heart of Comox ever since. To learn more about aviation history visit the CFB Comox Air Force Museum. The past is fondly remembered in the Comox Valley and by visiting one of the museums or galleries in the area you may take home a small piece of it.