Members of the public voiced their displeasure with RTC’s plan to build structures up to six storeys high on the Trail Bay waterfront during a Jan. 11 public hearing.
Fourteen of the 17 speakers at the hearing were against the plan, citing concerns with the height and massing of the project as well as increased traffic and light pollution and increased demands on water and sewer infrastructure.
Most felt the proposed plan was completely out of character with the single-family neighbourhood that surrounds it.
One speaker, Jan Wintz, presented a petition with 251 signatures from residents against the current RTC proposal.
“This project is really gross overdevelopment,” said nearby resident Stan Lubin. “It is, if you take all the measurements in the proposal, 82,000 saleable square feet. It is 48 units [where there] were five buildings.”
The RTC plan calls for four multi-family housing units on the Trail Bay waterfront: a two-storey town home, two three-storey town homes and one six-storey apartment building – a total of 48 units.
The tallest structure would be 21.5 metres high. In exchange for the height, the developer is offering 30 per cent of the property as publicly accessible space and extending Snickett Park.
The vocal majority at the meeting didn’t feel the extras justified council allowing the rezoning and official community plan amendments needed for the RTC plan to proceed.
“This [Snickett Park extension] is no compensation at all compared to the destruction of this property and the long-term effect it will have on the area that is irreversible,” said one speaker.
Of those who took the mic on Jan. 11, only representatives of the Sechelt Downtown Business Association (SDBA) and a man who lived at The Watermark spoke in favour of the proposal.
Katharine Trueman of the SDBA said the association was in favour of the development, mainly for the densification it would bring to the downtown core. “The SDBA board on behalf of businesses in downtown Sechelt supports the development,” Trueman said.
She also noted the increased safety for pedestrians the development would offer due to the need to erect a street light on the highway, and the community benefit of the extended waterfront walkway.
“[The development’s] implementation will help local business within downtown and complement a strong downtown Sechelt,” Trueman said.
Council will now consider the responses from the public hearing and decide whether or not to give second reading to the RTC proposal at a future council meeting.
