Halfmoon Bay's draft official community plan (OCP) was presented to the public last weekend, while a Nanaimo-based developer learned his application for a major subdivision in the area is on hold until the new OCP is adopted.
About 40 people attended the June 22 open house at Halfmoon Bay Elementary School and the public comments were generally favourable, Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) planner Andrew Allen said.
"I was pleased with the results," Allen said. "We feel we have an excellent product here."
Just over two years in the making, the revised OCP streamlines, simplifies and updates the existing planning document.
"The current OCP has 11 different rural-residential designations, so it's a patchwork of designations," Allen said. "We've brought 11 designations down to four."
Other changes include revising some of the technical language in the document to make it more accessible for the public, identifying three community focal points or hubs (Welcome Woods, Halfmoon Bay and Secret Cove) and allowing more mixed-use zoning.
In another key revision, the boundaries of hazardous areas were redrawn to better protect waterways and reflect building code changes.
"The factor of safety is largely driving this," Allen said of the proposed revision.
Allen said the direction for the new OCP came out of a community forum that drew about 150 people in March 2012, and he called the document an "excellent example" of a community setting its own vision for future development. "Truly it is a community-driven process," he said.
The deadline for feedback on the draft OCP is July 15 and Allen said he hopes it will receive first reading by the board that month, with a public hearing in late fall or early winter and, "if all goes well," final adoption in December or January.
Meanwhile, the SCRD planning and development committee voted June 20 to defer Nanaimo-based 3L Developments' proposal for a 135-lot subdivision and small commercial hub above the intersection of Highway 101 and the north end of Redrooffs Road.
The decision came after 3L's Kabel Atwall appeared before the committee, requesting the board give first reading to a rezoning bylaw for the project so that he could start the consultation process.
Appearing with Atwall was Clark Hamilton, president of the Coast Community Builders Association, who spoke in support of the project and the employment opportunities it would create.
After the presentations, the committee voted to put the rezoning bylaw on hold until the board adopts the new Halfmoon Bay OCP. District of Sechelt director Darnelda Siegers opposed the motion.
Under the draft OCP, the 3L property retains its current resource designation.
