In the hope of removing any confusion about the SSC Properties project, Sechelt council rescinded first reading of the zoning amendment needed for SSC to proceed on Oct. 19 and asked staff to bring back another report on the project, with a new recommendation for first reading and conditions for adoption.
When the report comes back, council’s intention is to give a fresh first reading to the project, with the correct appendix list of conditions and provisions attached.
Council has been having trouble advancing the project to public hearing due to a changing appendix list, the most notable change being a switch from six to eight storeys for a portion of the 170-hectare project.
Coun. Noel Muller said he personally went back through council agendas to try to find where the six to eight-storey change took place, and he found it detailed in one of the longest and most packed council agendas to date, on April 6.
“That was really important to me to go back and understand how those changes occurred,” Muller said.
“I don’t recall ever discussing eight storeys at committee level and I went back and it was confirmed that at committee level on April 6, we approved a bylaw that had eight storeys above grade in it, but the previous February planning committee … included six storeys.”
He noted the April 6 regular council meeting was cut short at his request, after about 10 hours of committee meetings that day and getting only halfway through a 478-page agenda.
“So I think perhaps maybe we missed something in there,” Muller said.
CAO Tim Palmer agreed.
“It’s quite possible just the large volume of material created some errors or omissions,” Palmer said, noting staff would “prepare a report coming back to council so it’s very clear where we’re at today for council and the developer and the community as a whole.”
The District of Sechelt has been criticized for taking too long to advance the SSC Properties proposal to public hearing for community input.
Mayor Bruce Milne said that although it may seem council is being “slow and pedantic and petty on this, the end result is to avoid a challenge of any sort on any part of this.”
When the vote was called to rescind first reading and ask for a new staff report on SSC Properties, all were in favour and it passed.
“There actually are sincere apologies for how long this has been twisting and turning,” Milne said.
“It’s not making anybody happy.”
