There is an ongoing effort to “rejuvenate and rebuild” Semiahmoo Fish & Game Club.
Diana Barkley – a longtime White Rock resident and member of the club since 2009 – said last week that a group had formed in May to get the club back on track, following two failed votes to cede the property at 1284 184 St. in the City of Surrey.
“None of us think we should donate the land to the City of Surrey,” Barkley, chairman of the Friends of Semiahmoo Fish and Game Club, said Aug. 23.
“We all think the same way, that we really owe it to those founders in 1957, a long time ago, who really believed in it and mortgaged their own property to buy the land.”
Members have been stewards of the site since the late 1970s.
Council officials said Peace Ark News in March that a proposed deal to donate the 29-acre property — housing a hatchery, archery range and more — to the city was “a business situation” resulting from “financial projections of a serious shortage of funds” which caused a need to “seek alternatives”.
Rising operating costs, reduced revenue and a backlog of repairs that exceeded the club’s ability to fund were all cited as challenges.
Although the March 21 vote fell short of the required two-thirds threshold needed to continue, it prompted members who did not want to see the club lost to come forward, Barkley said.
“So we started our campaign,” she said.
“There are a lot of ideas out there. I think we owe it to the founders… not to give it up so easily. I truly believe that a renewed and re-energized Board of Directors has the opportunity to overturn it and rebuild it.
In accordance with the Companies Act, The Friends of Semiahmoo Fish & Game Club has requisitioned a general meeting. Scheduled for September 14, the only item on the agenda is the election of directors.
Sixteen members of the group Friends are in the running, including Barkley.
Club vice-chairman Ron Meadley, a long-serving director, confirmed this week that he also plans to become a director. He could not comment on the next steps envisaged for the future of the site.
After the vote, the new board “will then be able to determine options going forward,” Meadley said. PAN Monday (August 30).
“As a result, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
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