Sechelt council has turned down first reading for the Sechelt Sustainable Community (SSC) project in East Porpoise Bay in a 6-1 vote.
The development proposal for the 169-hectare (417-acre) property – based on a housing mix with 1,360 units as well as agricultural areas, a hotel, a waterfront shopping district and a private school campus – had been granted first reading in 2016, but it was rescinded because of technical errors.
The latest vote followed a presentation from SSC’s Todd McGowan, and a detailed analysis by director of planning Tracy Corbett at the March 7 council meeting
McGowan told councillors that the project is at a crossroads.
“Following years of significant expense and effort with limited results to date we see that we have three options,” he said. “We can proceed now with the SSC vision of creating an integrated sustainable community; we can build to the current zoning of a golf course and 1,600 homes; or we can sell the property to a third party that would most likely have little or no connection to the Sunshine Coast.”
Corbett’s analysis pointed to several concerns that would have to be addressed if council chose to go forward, such as inconsistency with Official Community Plan policies due to the growth characteristics and servicing limitations placed on the development. Those policies include the urban containment zone, the “Downtown First” vision, which says “the majority of new growth, particularly higher density residential uses,” should be in the core, and the servicing and infrastructure policies.
Corbett recommended more than 30 conditions the developer should have to meet if the project was approved.
“With this entire development, if there’s a commitment to it we really need to set it up for success. If there isn’t that [commitment] it can be problematic and put a lot of risk on the district but also a lot of cost on the taxpayers,” she told councillors.
Mayor Bruce Milne took the unusual step of speaking first during debate on first reading.
“We’ve looked at this project since 2015. It, in fact, was first introduced pre-election 2014 [when] it was announced by the new [property] owners at that time as a great development that was going to come and change the face of Sechelt,” Milne said.
“We’ve had four planners looking at it … [and] nothing has changed. We still have a plan that is more of a promise to plan and doesn’t reflect the vision and understanding that we require from much, much smaller projects.
“So, I don’t think it’s ready. I’m going to recommend that we say yes to the vision documents that set out the values for the District of Sechelt, that we say yes to the Official Community Plan, that we say yes to the downtown business core and yes to Downtown First, and we say no to SSC for first reading or further development.”
Coun. Darnelda Siegers, the only one to vote in favour, argued that it’s time for Sechelt residents to have their say.
“I think we’ve been hearing from the community for quite a while that they would like a say in this, and the only way they’re going to get that is if we give it first reading and take it to a public hearing where they can actually give us the input and let us know whether they want this to move forward or not,” said Siegers. “I’m going to be supporting this so we actually get that input.”
Councillors Doug Wright and Darren Inkster said they too would normally lean in favour of getting projects to public hearing, but in this case voted no.
“Why would I take it to the community if we’re not satisfied that this is good for Sechelt?” Wright said.
