A four-storey commercial/residential building has been pitched for the corner of Cowrie Street and Trail Avenue in Sechelt, beside the fire hall.
The proposal from Prime Signal Ltd. came to a planning and community development committee meeting on March 22, where staff noted the proposal was located “at an important corner” in downtown Sechelt.
“The redevelopment of [this corner] will help shape what is possible in the downtown as well as the community’s vision for the downtown,” a report from planner Aaron Thompson said. “The form and character and how it fits into the neighbourhood and the vision for the downtown should be carefully considered.”
The proposal from Prime Signal is for the three lots on the northeast corner of Cowrie and Trail. Two lots are currently vacant and one has a home on it.
Prime Signal Ltd. wants to clear all three lots and build a four-storey mixed-use building with a ground floor of commercial space and 22 residential units.
The proposal calls for underground parking on site and 100 per cent of units built to accessible or adaptable standards.
The building would take up about 75 per cent of the lot coverage and would provide two units of affordable housing.
In order to build, the developer will need a zoning amendment to create a new comprehensive development zone (CD-40).
So far, referral agencies have been on board, with the Sechelt and District Chamber of Commerce and the Sechelt Downtown Business Association registering their approval.
The Sechelt Fire Department also said it would be OK with the development, as long as Seiner Lane is widened so it doesn’t inhibit the department’s emergency response and the fire hall has some say when the project gets to the development stage.
Councillors at the March 22 planning meeting had little to say about the development before recommending council allow staff to draft a zoning amendment bylaw for consideration.
Only Coun. Darnelda Siegers spoke to her concern about the provision of affordable housing in the plan.
“My concern is, I know when we had The Watermark come forward we had an affordable unit in each one of the towers, that because of strata costs, it really became difficult to actually find somebody who could afford to live there,” Siegers said, asking if the two units proposed by Prime Signal would also be strata.
Staff confirmed proponents are talking about creating a strata development at this time.
“That’s something I’d like to look at to see whether it should be units or potentially it would be a cash contribution or something that can be used elsewhere,” Siegers said.
