Due to steepness and potential slope instability, the District of Sechelt might want to exclude development on some portions of the proposed SSC Properties East Porpoise Bay Neighbourhood site, a planning consultant told Sechelt council April 19.
“Land with more than a 23 per cent grade may not be developable,” said Maria Stanborough of C + S Planning. “Council could consider this. It can require quite a bit of work to make it safe and stable.”
Some portions of this “mixed residential/commercial neighbourhood” site, which encompasses 10 parcels of land on 169 hectares, are rated at 20 to 30 per cent steepness while others are 30 per cent or greater, said Stanborough. These appeared as colour-coded areas in a report she presented for Sechelt’s interim director of development services regarding SSC Properties’ application for a zoning bylaw amendment.
Currently, the district excludes only areas with a slope of 30 degrees or greater.
Last year, Amec Foster Wheeler, an engineering and project management firm, reviewed the slope stability of SSC Properties’ gravel pit areas and recommended that “some slopes steeper than 23 degrees may require further analysis and/or remedial work,” Stanborough said. “Alternatively, these areas could be excluded from the development area.”
Last year, Sechelt council expressed concerns about possible sinkholes on the property, as experienced in Sechelt’s Seawatch subdivision. But Stanborough said that the SSC Properties site has no similar problems.
In a January 2016 letter, Amec noted that SSC Properties and Seawatch have “significantly different soil and groundwater conditions” and it did not identify the SSC property as at risk for sinkholes.
The report presented to council April 19 recognized the need for a groundwater management plan “that considers the potential for ground instability caused by groundwater erosion.”
“Waste water needs to be addressed,” Stanborough added.
A traffic impact study, completed by Binnie Consultants in 2016, noted that an extension to existing Ti’ta Way would result in “less demand on downtown roads” to access Highway 101.
Stanborough said the Highway 101 / Wharf Avenue intersection, and the Wharf Avenue and Ebbtide Street / East Porpoise Bay Road intersection will face more traffic congestion during the 20-year build-out of this project.
A project information package will be available, she said, to the public and Sechelt council before first reading of the zoning bylaw amendment.
Council endorsed Sechelt staff’s recommendation to give first reading to SSC Properties’ zoning bylaw amendment on April 6 last year. On Oct. 19, at staff’s request, council rescinded part, but not all, of council resolutions related to the bylaw.
The proposed development includes 1,160 residential units, blending multi-family, compact, artisan live-work and low-density housing; 190 units of supportive housing and hospice facilities; 4,500 square metres of commercial waterfront; a private school with boarding students; agricultural lands for 10 dwelling units; and an eco-adventure zone and two hectares of a commercial recreation facility.
