Vacant Land SGM – results

After decades laying fallow the Board’s folkloric ‘Back 40’ will soon be producing  yields for Fraser Valley communities and the REALTORS® who serve them, as well as fulfilling the legacy of the Board’s pioneering leaders who bought the property.

At a Special General Meeting on September 26 at the Coast Hotel & Convention Centre in Langley, 253 members (carrying 148 proxies) voted 59% in favour of supporting a Board of Directors proposal to establish a Fraser Valley REALTORS Charitable Foundation using funds from the sale of the board’s 3.5 acre parcel situated behind FVREB’s existing office, dubbed ‘the Back 40’.

In 1969, the land was purchased privately by five visionary past presidents who sold it back to the Board a few years later for exactly what they paid. Their only condition was that the FVREB would eventually use the land for the betterment of our members and our communities.

Over the last few years, two task forces, chaired by Past President Scott Olson, worked with staff and outside experts to conduct a thorough review of all available options for using the land to achieve this goal. The final recommendation, endorsed by the Board of Directors, was to use the proceeds from the sale of the vacant land to fund a new charitable foundation, dedicated to helping those in need.

In fact the strongest proponents for the charitable foundation came from the very men who purchased the land in the first place. In video recorded interviews shown at the meeting, John Woodward, Reg Titus and Ian Macnaughton all provided impassioned statements about why they believed the plan for a charitable foundation was the most ideal one for the land they purchased decades earlier.  Macnaughton, now 78, attended the Special General Meeting on Monday. Sadly, Rod Archer and Arnold Jeffs, also part of the initial purchase, have passed away.

President Charles Wiebe explains, “Over the years, the Board looked at many possibilities for the land, but nothing met our objectives as well as this. With a Fraser Valley REALTORS Charitable Foundation, we will be able to impact the lives of potentially thousands of people in our communities, for generations to come.”

In preparation for the vote, the Board submitted the necessary registration and paperwork to the province and the Canadian Revenue Agency to ensure that the Fraser Valley REALTORS Charitable Foundation would receive the necessary non-profit status required to establish the foundation.

Next steps will include the transfer of the land into the foundation and forming advisory committees to determine the governance structure of the foundation, an administrative model, financial management, and the criteria and process for giving grants to charities in North Delta, White Rock, Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford and Mission.

The Board of Directors would like to thanks members for taking the time out of their business schedule to participate in this important, historical decision.