The public plaza planned for Watermark, Sechelt's newest housing development being built on the Trail Bay waterfront, will undergo some changes.
The open public space between the two towers will have a smaller water feature than originally planned, largely due to concerns of water seeping through to the underground parking below.
It will also have an elevator and staircase to take people from street level to the raised public plaza. The original plans featured a winding walkway.
Developers also asked for a change to a tree covenant to allow for side street access to the development. The covenant change does not impact any trees, but allows the access to be developed.
Councillors at the Oct. 24 District of Sechelt committee of the whole meeting were willing to allow the changes. A final vote will come to the next council meeting for ratification.
Trail Bay foreshore
Council wants staff to provide itemized costs, funding strategies and timelines for a permanent fix to the Trail Bay foreshore.
A staff report looking at two preferred options was before council Wednesday. One option was to build a new, stronger seawall at a cost of about $12 million and the other was to create a green shores design complete with a man-made reef to reduce wave force on the beach for $6.2 million.
Councillors preferred the less expensive option, but were unwilling to commit. Instead they asked for more information.
"It's a keep-moving direction to staff. Take little steps, don't take a $6-million step, please," said Mayor John Henderson.
Overspending
A report from the director of finance showed Sechelt has overspent in a number of areas during the last nine months.
The District has spent nearly double the budgeted amount on legal fees so far this year. The total actual expenditures to date are $622,534 compared to the budgeted $354,500. Those legal costs are broken down as follows: $240,549 for golf course litigation, $113,717 for personnel issues, $65,022 for planning and $203,246 for general corporate legal expenditures.
The report also showed the District has spent $100,000 more than what was budgeted for corporate services. The funds were used to pay out the former corporate officer and hire assistant corporate officer Gerry van der Wolf.
Sechelt is about $170,000 over budget in the area of infrastructure maintenance as well, due to emergency repairs of the Trail Bay seawall.
Noise bylaw
A new bylaw limiting noise in the daytime in residential areas but allowing it in industrial areas was before council Oct. 24. However, council wanted more information before moving it forward.
Councillors asked staff to rework the bylaw to clearly show the industrial exception and find out how many daytime noise complaints currently get called in. They also wanted to see if there are any residential areas situated beside industrial areas that could be adversely affected by the new bylaw.
