Residents of Southill Acres are asking for an investigation into why a property bordering their neighbourhood has been designated industrial in the Powell River Regional District’s draft official community plan (OCP) for Areas B and C.
“We don’t feel that our director, particularly the director of our area, has represented all of us equally and impartially, as per the directors’ duties and responsibilities,” said Kim Barton-Bridges, a Southill Acres representative at the March 24 regional board meeting. While she spoke for her community, about a dozen residents attended the meeting.
Residents are opposed to a batch cement plant on a parcel designated low density residential in the OCP. In the draft OCP, half of the property is designated industrial, while the other half is rural residential. However, the owner of the property has already installed the plant and is supplying concrete for the construction of the City of Powell River’s reservoir at Haslam Lake, part of the drinking water system improvement project.
Barton-Bridges asked why the planning committee felt a concrete batch plant is permissible on property designated residential, yet stated in a motion about a proposed concrete batch plant on property designated reserve, and the site of a gravel extraction operation, that it is “inconsistent with the permitted use provisions of the southern regional district’s OCP reserve designation?”
Residents have a reasonable expectation that when a designation is changed from low impact to high impact, they would be directly notified, Barton-Bridges said. “The designation changes made in 2010 on Stevenson Road show favouritism and abuse of process because they have been done without due regard for other community members,” she said.
Directors who voted for the change are ignoring concerns of many residents without giving a reasonable argument for doing so, Barton-Bridges added. “That a non-resident owner who is pursuing financial gain by a means which violates established statutory policy and threatens the peaceful enjoyment and value of the properties of dozens of residents is given preference by the committee is incomprehensible,” she said. “These actions by elected officials are clearly contrary to the general public interest. We would request not only a review by the full regional board, but also an investigation by an independent body.”
Stan Gisborne, Area B director, said due process was followed and the regional district held two public information meetings about the draft OCP, but it didn’t inform every neighbour of the designation changes, because it wasn’t practical.
Gisborne said it was his idea to designate half the property rural residential and the other half industrial. He said the change from low density residential to rural residential creates “quite a buffer,” because the parcel could be subdivided into nine lots if it remained low density residential. As rural residential, only one dwelling could be built on the property.
The committee took into consideration all of the property owners in the area, Gisborne also said. “I felt we came up with a pretty good compromise by designating half of it rural and half of it industrial.”
He also said he shared the concern about having the property designated industrial. “It should be designated just for that one particular use only,” he said, which is concrete batch plant.
Patrick Brabazon, Area A director, chaired the meeting since Colin Palmer, Area C director and board chair, was absent. He told Barton-Bridges that the OCP is still in draft form and after the regional board passes the initial readings of the OCP bylaw, there would be a public hearing, which would be the venue for residents to express their concerns and opinions about the plan. “If you were still unhappy after the hearing and after the adoption of the OCP, much of what you were asking for would happen after that, sometime in the future,” he said.
