The RTC Properties proposal was before Sechelt council Feb. 15 for approval in a slightly different form, but council sent it back to the drawing board.
The proposal for the west end of Sechelt’s waterfront, which calls for 48 units in four buildings varying in height from two to six storeys, went to public hearing on Jan. 11, where the overwhelming majority of speakers registered their displeasure with the plan.
Most thought it was too big and didn’t fit with the neighbourhood. Some pointed to the need for more public consultation, as is a stipulation when building in Special Infill Area 2 – the property’s designation in the Official Community Plan.
RTC Properties changed its design slightly after the feedback, proposing to shift the development closer to the highway and further from the waterfront and reduce the height of the tallest building by one metre.
Council didn’t feel the changes were enough.
“I think that the developer needs to go back to this community,” Coun. Doug Wright said at the Feb. 15 council meeting. “The community realizes that it’s a situation where we can densify the downtown area of Sechelt, and they’re willing to have something in there that will work. This particular development does not work for the community.”
Coun. Mike Shanks said he wasn’t in favour of the plan because more consultation was needed with the community and because the district’s Vision Plan states buildings in that particular part of Sechelt shouldn’t be more than four storeys in height.
“So I, too, would not be supportive of six-plus storeys on this particular property,” Shanks said.
Coun. Alice Lutes said that although she felt more density was needed in the downtown core, “I think it’s too much. I think that where it’s located it will have a lot of issues for our community.”
Coun. Noel Muller said he was “disappointed at the type of changes” suggested by the developer after the public hearing.
“I think if I had to offer any advice on this particular one, it would be for the proponent to perhaps sit down with a few of those critics and just hear what they have to say and try to think about some different potentials,” Muller said.
Council then unanimously denied the zoning bylaw needed for RTC to proceed with the development in its current form.
