Sechelt council has given three readings to an OCP amendment that will allow SSC Properties’ application to move forward outside of the urban containment boundary (UCB), despite a last ditch effort by Coun. Darnelda Siegers to have the property put in the UCB.
Siegers moved to have the 162-hectare property in East Porpoise Bay placed within the UCB during the June 17 regular council meeting, even though the proposed designation had been pulled from the application prior to a public hearing on June 10.
Siegers argued the UCB amendment was needed to allow infrastructure servicing of the new development; however, Mayor Bruce Milne said the change would likely trigger another public hearing.
Corporate services director Margi Nicholas noted she had obtained legal advice on that issue, at Siegers’ request, and was advised the change was not substantive enough to warrant a new public hearing.
Milne said Siegers shouldn’t have sought legal advice without consulting the rest of council.
“I don’t like what appears to be a set-up,” he said.
Siegers said she was concerned about the need for a new public hearing and added, “I apologize if you feel you were blindsided, but that was information that I was seeking.”
The UCB designation was originally pulled from the SSC Properties proposal at Milne’s request, “primarily because of the ordering of the OCP and because I want to respect the OCP and the commitments that we made to other neighbourhood communities,” he said.
Areas currently designated within the UCB will be considered first for infrastructure services like sewer hook-ups in the future.
“My understanding is that in no way does this slow down or preclude infrastructure development, but it will put infrastructure development in the hands of the [SSC Properties] developer and on their responsibility,” Milne said.
“As an organization, we can only do so much at a time and if we focus on building infrastructure out to this one because it happens to be going forward, it means we won’t be dealing with infrastructure on other primary areas that have been waiting.”
When the question was called to grant UCB designation for SSC Properties, only Siegers and Coun. Noel Muller were in favour and the motion was defeated.
When second and third readings were called for the OCP amendment to redesignate SSC Properties’ land as a mixed residential/commercial neighbourhood, all were in favour.
Fourth reading and adoption of the OCP amendment for SSC Properties is expected at the next regular council meeting.
There is currently no timeline for the development of the SSC Properties site, located between Porpoise Bay Provincial Park and Sandy Hook.
“The next phase in talking with the applicants is to move toward the preparation of a concept plan, however long that takes,” noted acting director of development services Mike Vance.
