Greg Amos/Staff Writer
A gallery full of concerned citizens left Sechelt council chambers relieved on Wednesday night, after council put off a final vote on the 1,600-unit Silverback golf course and residential development slated for Sandy Hook.
"We've heard from the community, and there will be an opportunity to review the [draft] servicing agreement before proceeding," said Mayor Cam Reid, after being jeered by a few hecklers for waiving the question and answer period that usually precedes a meeting's call to order. Council tabled the fourth and final readings of rezoning and official community plan (OCP) bylaws that would make the Silverback development official, and Coun. Mike Shanks' motion to forward the document to a late-March public workshop, to be attended by the District's legal counsel, was passed unanimously. Council also received director of planning Ray Parfitt's updated report on the development before calling it a night. The report notes developer Gabriel Khoury has agreed to convey a 1.75 hectare parcel of unsubdivided land, valued at $169,500, to be used for at least 160 units of affordable housing. However, no affordable housing strategy has been agreed to. Khoury will also donate a 0.4 hectare parcel as an amenity contribution to be used as a municipal park. About 50 people attended the special meeting, many of them from community associations in Tuwanek and Sandy Hook, and some who had stayed behind after Habitat for Humanity's public hearing for their Wilson Creek development earlier in the evening. Most appeared relieved by the decision.
"There should never have been a meeting for fourth reading without community input first," said Bob D'Arcy, treasurer for the Tuwanek Ratepayers Association. "The way they did it, I thought was rude. We won't have any input until the workshop."
However, the chance for public input officially ended after the October 2006 public hearing. While some servicing issues have changed since then, Reid said there have been no changes affecting the rezoning or OCP bylaws.
Council spent two hours prior to the meeting sequestered with the District's legal counsel, reviewing the development and servicing agreements, before deciding not to proceed with the vote that evening.
"When we reviewed the whole thing, we realized we had put out some correspondence to invite the public to a workshop to see the servicing agreement," said Coun. Barry Poole. "We don't anticipate changing it - I personally think we've got a good agreement."
A second public hearing, dealing with a text amendment to Silverback's rezoning bylaw, had been scheduled for the evening, but was cancelled just five days before the meeting through a notice in Coast Reporter. Reid explained the amendment is to eliminate legal loopholes regarding allowable uses of the land, such as the (in)ability of a hotel on the site to serve alcohol. Council's intention, he said, had been to take that opportunity to explain the servicing agreement as well.
The approval of the servicing agreement isn't the final step before construction, as Khoury also needs Parfitt to approve the subdivision plan, a process that generally happens around the same time as fourth reading, Poole said.
The development agreement is now available for public viewing on the District of Sechelt's website at www.district.sechelt.bc.ca.
