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Trellis project gets third reading

Sechelt council has given third reading to the zoning and official community plan amendments that would allow construction of a new long-term care facility on Derby Road, clearing the way for possible final approval before the end of the year.
Trellis
A concept drawing of the Silverstone Care Centre.

Sechelt council has given third reading to the zoning and official community plan amendments that would allow construction of a new long-term care facility on Derby Road, clearing the way for possible final approval before the end of the year.

The Silverstone Care Centre project, headed by Trellis Seniors Services under contract with Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), has generated controversy since it was first proposed in 2016.

A staff report presented at the Sept. 16 council meeting said submissions at a recent information session and a public hearing showed “a cross-section of feedback.”

“There is support for this facility in this location, opposition as well as concern relating to access, transportation, and impact on the neighbourhood.”

The staff report also noted that a detailed landscape plan and design for a bus pull-out for public transit have been reviewed and accepted as meeting the conditions required prior to sending the bylaw to council for third reading.

At council the Trellis proposal generated little comment.

Coun. Matt McLean said he had some concerns about the design of the bus pull-out, and asked whether it would be possible to realign it.

Coun. Alton Toth, however, did address the primary source of the controversy – private versus public ownership and operation of long-term care facilities – and apologized for “a little bit of soapboxing.”

“I’ve said it before, I'll say it again… I am opposed to private primary care. I’m opposed to the replacement of public-funded models with private for-profit operations,” Toth said.

“The community’s debated the merits of public versus private for a long time and we’d continue to do so until both Shorncliffe and Totem [Lodge] were nothing but rotten piles of lumber on the ground,” he continued.

“The province has been quite adamant that it’s not going to rip up the contract, and has managed to do the best it can, for both workers and residents of a new facility.

“Ultimately, these are the cards that we’ve been dealt. The municipality has no jurisdiction in the private versus public debate.”

Toth said given those limitations on the district’s jurisdiction, he was prepared to support the zoning and OCP amendments as appropriate uses of the property.

The rest of council, with the exception of Coun. Brenda Rowe who recused herself as an employee of VCH, also voted in favour of third reading.

Silverstone is one of three facilities Trellis is under contract to build and operate for VCH, and the company has said it hopes to have it open in 2022.

Trellis’s Hamilton Village Care Centre in Richmond opened in mid-May and the Creekstone Care Centre in North Vancouver is scheduled to open late this year. Trellis also owns and operates the Brocklehurst Gemstone Care Centre in Kamloops.