Council process was again questioned by Sechelt resident Shirley Kuciuk during the second public hearing for Rockwood Ocean Stories, a seniors’ housing facility planned for the property between Rockwood Centre and Chatelech Secondary School.
The second public hearing was called after Kuciuk brought up an issue of process that showed council should have considered the Official Community Plan (OCP) amendment needed for the project in conjunction with several plans, including the 2000 liquid waste management plan, and made that consideration clear.
Council rectified the problem on March 16 and set a second public hearing for March 29. But at that hearing, Kuciuk again questioned whether the District of Sechelt was following due process.
She suggested conditions hadn’t been satisfied that would allow a height variance on the site, that public consultation wasn’t done properly and that geotechnical studies needed to be done prior to council consideration of any OCP or zoning amendments.
Sechelt Mayor Bruce Milne said staff would look into Kuciuk’s concerns.
“We’ll answer all of these when it comes back, so at the moment we’ll just receive the questions and concerns,” Milne said.
“We’ll ask for a full report and we’ll probably also at that time provide some discussion on community process and Local Government Act issues because obviously there’s some different interpretations on how that process works.”
He suggested some community meetings might be needed to ensure everyone understands how council processes work in the future.
“I can see that there’s room probably for some community-based discussions and reaching common understandings on what Local Government Act requirements are and what council requirements are,” Milne said.
The only other issues raised at the second public hearing included a concern about the size and placement of a winding accessible walkway from the site through the Rockwood property and a concern about the height of the development and possible traffic problems in the area.
Council will consider comments from both public hearings before deciding whether to grant the OCP and zoning amendments needed for the Rockwood Ocean Stories project to proceed.
