Photos by Jean Sorensen

By Jean Sorensen

With all the wrangling that has occurred over Vancouver Island’s SookePoint and Silver Spray developments over the past 17 years, it’s a wonder that developer Michael Thornton didn’t pack up and run like hell. The developments left a trail of lengthy court cases, political debate and polarized neighbours.

“When you do land development, the No. 1 rule is never fall in love with the property,” says Thornton, who admits he failed miserably and still refers to the site in superlatives terms despite the long, stormy ride to bring the project in. Thornton and investors have been on a roller coaster ride that few can rival, with one near derailment as politics and debate almost downed the East Sooke development that sits on Canada’s most south-westerly point. “Was it tough? Yes,” he says, but the good news is that “there is no one coming up behind us. No developer in his right mind would go through what we have.”

Thornton was captivated by the volcanic rock foreshore site capping Possession Point from the first day he clamoured on to the rocky slope from a boat, the only access means at that time. In the business of raising investment dollars for developments, Thornton envisioned the site with a housing development, marina, hotel and restaurants.

His company, Home Equity Development, bought the Silver Spray property in 1996. It included four separate parcels, one of which was in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR). Court records say the total acreage of the four parcels is 274 acres with approximately three km of waterfront. It is located next to the East Sooke Regional Park and most it had been logged, with some second growth on site.

The 45-minute ride from downtown Victoria to the site down a winding country road still expresses the values of rural life. There are signs offering firewood and fresh eggs. Swaths of wild daisies line the roadside and homes and barns with livestock are screened by bush and trees. There are stretches of bush or pasture between houses. It’s idyllic – a snapshot from another time and one that some residents tried hard to keep.

Michael Thornton inside the living room of the display cottage at SookePoint, located at the tip of Possession Point.

When Thornton tried to remove the parcel from the ALR in the late 1990s, residents in what is primarily a rural farm area heard of the development plans and the fight was on.

During the following years there were a number of court cases. NIMBY residents charged that Thornton used legal intimidation to silence them (that case was tossed). Thornton sued successfully for defamation over false statements in literature that anti-development factions circulated against him. He was awarded $52,250. A regional director also sued four defendants in the case and was awarded $285,000.

“There is always a small percentage who oppose development,” says Thornton, as he stands on a seven-hectare site owned by Landus Development Group. This is SookePoint, which is in the heart of the Silver Spray area. Landus, of which Thornton, his wife and a partner are the owners, is an associate company of Home Equity. Four months ago, Landus got the variance he wanted so he could build one metre from the water’s edge and five metres above it. He started developing what he calls a destination resort with vacation cottages on this clover-leaf shaped parcel of land hugging the rocky bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

“It took six years to get the zoning,” he says, adding that rezoning for Silver Spray took 64 public hearings in total. Thornton is now looking to have 95 cottages built by spring 2014.

The Silver Spray and SookePoint area is now once again part of the municipality of Sooke. When Thornton first started developing the Silver Spray lands, they were within the boundary of Sooke. Then the municipality redrew its boundaries and the area was excluded. Luckily, says Thornton, the provincial government pushed for the annexing of the area to Sooke again.

Now the project has gained the full support of the local municipality and many nearby neighbours. Concessions were made to the municipality such as providing park lands. Home Equity also agreed to bring in an underwater fresh water line to the area across an inlet and build a new pumping station on the East Sooke side. The cost was $5-million and on completion, it was turned over to Sooke to own and operate. That development, says Thornton, allows any rural resident along the route to the point to hook up to the water line.

SookePoint cottages are located at the tip of Possession Point, an area that is known for fishing both by sports fisherman and wildlife such as the bald eagle perched in the tree.

Thornton is currently selling SookePoint (www.sookepoint.com) at Silver Spray, which will feature strata-title, one- to four-bedroom destination cottages for vacations or for year-round living.  The units can be rented and there is the option of placing a smaller bachelor cottage beneath an existing cottage on the slope, which can serve as a “mortgage helper”. Or, the rights can be sold off to help lower the price of the cottage above. The cottage units – with a variety of floor plans and levels – range from 500 to 2,400 square feet, with a lead-in price of $299,000 and monthly maintenance of $295.

Some of the seven-acre site will go to amenity buildings and as a result, Thornton said he is still unsure how much land will be part of the cottage strata title. The buildings will not be part of the cottage strata deal to ensure that cottage owners are not obligated to maintain their cost. They will have a clubhouse-style administration or private ownership, with cottage owners opting in or out in their use.

Thornton is also looking at several restaurants on site and two wedding chapels. “We could have as many as three weddings a weekend,” he says, with one chapel seated near the ocean on a rock while the other is perched on a bluff overlooking the Juan de Fuca strait.

Thornton’s SookePoint development, a gated community, has the cottages perched below the sea bluffs to preserve the view above and also to bring vacationers closer to the water. On a beautiful June day, with the sun reflecting off the water, he shows off the show cottage’s sundeck, which is shaped like the prow of a boat. Inside the cottage, there is the illusion of being in a boat jutting over the water. (The interior wall is all glass). Like the rural residents who are ensconced in the East Sooke lifestyle, Thornton believes those who opt into the development will come for the area’s natural features.

He points to the sprinkling of boats parked below the bluff with weekday anglers, claiming the area is as good a salmon fishing spot as up-island Campbell River, which is internationally renowned for its salmon catch. A few weeks ago, whales were swimming near the bluffs, chasing out the fish from the rocky recesses. Nearby is an island that houses a rookery of sea lions that also fish the area. To the left of the cottage sundeck, which juts over the cliff, sits a bald eagle in a nearby tree. Man, beast and bird can’t be wrong.

Thornton envisions charter-fishing services taking local residents out for the day, water taxis taking residents to hike in the nearby provincial park or to spend a day on the island and private entrepreneurs setting up recreational options such as kayaking. He’s also hopeful a partner for an on-site hotel can be found and that other entrepreneurs will come to the site and help develop it.

Thornton’s vision isn’t overshadowed by any resentment from all the hardships the project encountered. “It was a good experience,” he says. “And we made some new friends.”