Sechelt Mayor Bruce Milne is looking into an adaptable housing decision council made while he was away to see if it warrants reconsideration.
Sechelt council, without Milne present, imposed never-before-required adaptable housing guidelines on an 18-lot subdivision in the Clayton Family Lands development at its Feb. 1 regular council meeting.
At the time, Coun. Mike Shanks was vocal about his opposition to the requirement, saying a policy about how to enforce the adaptable housing guidelines was never adopted by council. The guidelines call for wheelchair-accessible hallways, washrooms and other features.
In the past, some Sechelt developments had been made to designate a small percentage of homes as adaptable, but the 18-lot subdivision was the first to have all units held to the adaptable standard.
“No other development in recent history has been required to do that,” Shanks said at the time.
He raised his concerns again on Feb. 15, when Milne was back at the council table.
“This appeared to be a standalone situation where it was being imposed on this particular development without council having developed a policy,” Shanks said.
Milne noted that council “considered that at the time” and still decided to move forward “for whatever reason.”
However, he said he’d look into it.
“Under the community charter there is the right for the mayor to bring things back for reconsideration and I’m willing to investigate this over the next few days and talk to you again and to others to see what transpired,” Milne told Shanks.
“If it is deemed appropriate to bring it back for reconsideration because for some reason council wasn’t fully understanding it, then I’ll be glad to do that, within the 30-day limit, which would be the next council meeting [on March 1].”
