A planned activity centre at Long Lake has the Nanaimo & Area Land Trust(NALT), and a member of city council raising concerns about tree loss. 

Nanaimo city council changed course this week, narrowly voting in favour of a plan to spend close to $11 million building a new facility for boat storage and with community space at Loudon Park next to Long Lake.

At a previous Finance and Audit Committee meeting council had voted in favour of a plan that would have seen boat storage built in a different location at a cost of about $6.5 million.

A number of councillors were not present at that meeting, and this week, in a pair of 5-4 votes, council decided first against building the scaled down storage, and then to approve funding for the bigger building.

It’s estimated by NALT that more than 40 per cent of the trees in the park will be cut down as part of the planned building.

Midcoast Morning speaks with NALT’s executive director and Nanaimo City Councillor Ben Geselbracht about the issue.