qathet Regional District directors will consider granting a six-month extension for a Nootka Street project to meet conditions associated with requested amendments to the official community plan and zoning bylaw.
The regional district received a written request for the extension for the purposes of an engineering report evaluation and a public information session for the Grasshopper Developments Ltd. project. The project proposes to build 240 residential units at 7406 and 7440 Nootka Street in Electoral Area B on 15.7 hectares.
At the October 4 planning committee meeting, Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne moved the regional district board decline the request for a six-month extension to the deadline for Trace Development Ltd. to meet conditions associated with the application for an official community plan and zoning bylaw amendment.
Gisborne said the initial six-month deadline had passed on August 22. He said the request for an extension, which came in September, was after the six-month deadline, so under the regional district’s policies and bylaws for development approval, it was not permissible.
“I don’t think we can approve the request for an extension,” said Gisborne. “If we do decline a request for extension, we refund their money and they can resubmit the same proposal. In order to maintain trust with the community, it’s a hostile and contentious issue up on Nootka, and we want to make sure we are following our processes and policies to the letter so we don’t erode the public trust.”
Manager of planning services Laura Roddan said there has been a lot of activity on the file and the proponent has completed the first two conditions that the board has set for the application requirements. She said the extension was a decision of the board, but given that the applicant has shown significant progress in meeting the conditions and would like to plan the public information session as soon as possible, if the request is declined, it will be a setback.
“I believe the public is looking forward to the public information meeting,” said Roddan.
Electoral Area D director Sandy McCormick said declining the request would be sending the wrong message. She said goals and vision in the regional district’s strategic plan call for openness and transparency.
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“We’ve extended deadlines on other projects numerous times and I don’t see why we would be so hard and fast to not extend the deadline for this particular project,” said McCormick. “We are not approving it by extending the deadline. The approval will come way down the road. It behooves us to let the process play out, to extend the deadline, and see what transpires from the public meeting.”
Electoral Area C director and board chair Clay Brander said the proponent has demonstrated the intention of providing the additional information requested by board. He said declining would put a lot of work on staff, so he was comfortable extending it.
Roddan said technically, the request to extend was past the deadline by two weeks, and how big a concern that is would be up the board.
The committee voted against Gisborne’s motion to decline the extension, with Gisborne in favour and the other directors opposed.
The committee then voted on the original recommendation for the regional board to grant the six-month extension for Trace Development Ltd. to meet conditions associated with the application for a simultaneous official community plan and zoning bylaw amendment for the parcel on Nootka Street. Gisborne was opposed to motion.
