SCRD Coopers Green Park Budget, the Hall Renovations and Its Documented Conflict of Interest
Transcript
When looking at the Coopers Green project, the paper trail can seem impenetrable. To understand what actually happened, we have to look past the rumors and go straight to the public record. Our timeline begins in May 2022. At this point, the regional district had a single, unified ambition—to build a completely new community hall. To make that happen, the board officially raised the project budget to an upper limit of $4.5 million.
The documents from this period are clear. That $4.5 million was not divided. It was allocated for one comprehensive construction initiative at Coopers Green. Establishing this starting figure is critical. The way that single pot of money was eventually divided accounts for the fragmented nature of the records that follow. That split began on March 23, 2023, when the district board changed the community hall's location and divided its funding. According to
the official resolution, the location for the new community hall was moved away from the water and up to option B, Connor Park. In that exact same resolution, the board carved out $707,000 from the approved budget, specifically to enhance Coopers Green Park. The attendance record for this specific meeting lists Landon Dix as present, serving in his capacity as the electoral Area B alternate director. A few months later, on July 13th, the board finalized the exact mathematical
division of the previously established funds. The split looked like this. Exactly $3,521,762 directed to the new hall at Connor Park. Meanwhile, $633,238 was locked in for enhancements back at Coopers Green Park. By the middle of 2023, the official documents proved the original project was legally, geographically, and financially severed into two completely independent tracks. With the new hall moving to a different location, the district had to close the books on the old
plans. We jump forward to November 2024. Staff brought forward a recommendation to officially cancel the now-obsolete project titled Coopers Green Park Hall and Parking Design Plans. Shutting this down allowed for financial recovery. Specifically, $40,389 of unused money was returned to the Community Works Fund. This administrative cleanup was a required step. The district needed to clear the books before any third party could take over the operations of the existing waterfront site.
By officially ending the old municipal design project, the district cleared the way for the Halfmoon Bay Community Association to step in with their own independent vision for the site. That brings us to March 2026. The Electoral Area Services Committee minutes outline the fate of the original Coopers Green Hall structure. The committee reviewed newly submitted architectural plans, detailing alterations and repairs to the old building, dated January 13, 2026.
The title block on these approved construction plans explicitly identifies the designer as Landon Dix Projects Ltd.. The community association estimated the cost of these specific hall alterations at $222,348. The regional district's financial contribution to this renovation was highly specific. They authorized the use of $65,780 of remaining community donations to support the association's work. One month later, an April 16 staff report audited the status of the district's completely separate park enhancement budget.
The accounting for the park budget was exact, $633,238 approved, $68,949 spent, leaving $564,289 remaining. While a specific designer's name appears on the plans for the community hall, the district's own park enhancement budget remains largely untouched and strictly separated. Moving past what the document state, we have to look at what they definitively lack regarding the hall designer. Across all regional district records, there is zero documentation of any payment made to Landon Dix or his company for the hall drawings.
There is no official district contract with him for this work, and the community association has stated that his design services were entirely volunteered. When we place the two final financial outlines side by side, the structure is clear. We have the Association's Hall Budget at $222,348 and the District's Park Budget at $633,238. The core finding of the public record is that these are two completely different projects, managed by different entities.
The ledgers for the building and the park are completely separate. The documents never combine them into a single sum. Every single document referenced in this film is officially on the public record of the Sunshine Coast Regional District.