Habitat for Humanity Sunshine Coast needs Sechelt council’s help to get past “a bit of a glitch” found by planning staff that’s halted building at the group’s Wilson Creek site.
Habitat’s Thomas Smith appeared as a delegation at council’s planning committee on May 24 to outline the issue and ask for help.
“When we applied early in April for our building permit … to construct our fifth duplex on the site, your staff astutely discovered a bit of a glitch in that the zoning that was in place for our site for all these years was to support three or more clustered buildings instead of units of two,” Smith told councillors, noting the Habitat site in Wilson Creek consists of duplexes, not triplexes.
“On that technicality, [staff] held up the issuance of a building permit,” Smith said.
Staff also discovered that the temporary use permit for the Quonset hut on the site had lapsed and the hut was therefore unusable by students in the ACE-IT program, who help build homes with Habitat for Humanity during the spring semester.
Smith said not being able to obtain the needed permits in time for the spring semester “has lost us an opportunity to take advantage of [the student’s help].”
The solution put forward in a staff report by planner Aaron Thompson suggested creating a new R-2A zone to support the building of duplexes and the use of the Quonset hut for educational purposes in Wilson Creek. That change, however, would trigger a new public hearing process.
Smith asked councillors to waive the requirement, so that construction isn’t held up any longer than absolutely necessary.
“We’d really like for it to be considered that we avoid the public consultation component of the zone change process if at all possible,” Smith said.
“Nothing has changed in terms of our development whatsoever,” he said. “We’ve been through the process already once and to put us through that process again would delay the building permit four to six weeks at the very least, further than what it already has been delayed.”
Coun. Noel Muller asked staff if it was possible to waive the public hearing process and Thompson said it was.
“A public hearing can be waived if a rezoning application is consistent with the official community plan (OCP),” Thompson said, adding he believed the Habitat for Humanity application was consistent because the site is zoned for multi-family/residential development in the OCP.
Coun. Darnelda Siegers asked how quickly staff could move the process forward to “have this be in compliance.”
Thompson said the bylaw would first have to be drafted and brought to a regular council meeting for first reading. Then, if a public hearing is waived, the bylaw would have to come back three separate times to council for approval of second, third and fourth reading, as well as receive approval from the Ministry of Transportation and Highways, before it could be adopted.
Siegers asked if more than one reading could be done at the same meeting. “I think we’re going to want to see how quickly we can fast-track it,” she said.
Planning committee chair Mike Shanks agreed.
“I think you’re hearing from members of the committee to expedite it as quickly as possible so the construction continues.”
The issue is expected to come to the next regular council meeting for discussion by the full council.
