The developer behind the Wesbrooke by the Sea assisted living facility proposed for the Clayton Family Lands in Sechelt is asking council to “expedite” a decision on bylaws to allow the project to go ahead.
The zoning and Official Community Plan (OCP) changes went to public hearing April 12, and were back at council on May 4 for second and third reading, at which point councillors voted to table discussions until they got answers on several issues, including: height, setbacks, a park land exchange, and affordable housing.
Ray Parfitt, a former District of Sechelt planner now working as a consultant for the developer, told the July 6 council meeting that they met with district staff twice in June to respond to those questions. Parfitt said staff rejected the park land exchange, which would close the existing park on a rocky bluff and replace it with a new park lower down the slope. He said the developer’s team was told to come back with a new application, which would trigger a new public hearing.
“The park land exchange was understood from the get-go, and set the context for the Wesbrooke site plan,” Parfitt said. “There’d been no objections raised by staff, the APC [advisory planning commission], community associations, or council … One person spoke to this issue at the public hearing, but it really wasn’t a major objection.”
Parfitt claimed creating a new site plan, filing a second application, and going through a new public hearing would make it a year between the original application and second and third reading of the zoning and OCP bylaws.
Instead, he argued, second and third readings could have gone ahead that night, July 6, with simple changes to delete references to the park land exchange and Clayton Park, and minor revisions to the site plan. He said what they’re hoping for now is that council would call for a staff report to come forward at the July 20 meeting, outlining how the questions were being dealt with, and then vote on second and third reading of amended OCP and zoning bylaws.
According to Parfitt, if the bylaws pass those readings, it would allow for an adoption vote on September 7.
“Timelines are vital to the project,” Parfitt said. “Greencourt has a three-year wait list right now for assisted living units, and a two-year wait list for market housing. Christenson Village has a wait list of seven applicants, and it has been as high as 20 in the past. We feel that Wesbrooke presents an opportunity for a much-needed assisted living facility on the Sunshine Coast … If the developer was to abandon this project, the community would lose a much-needed facility, as well as associated direct and indirect economic developments.”
