Sechelt council gave second and third readings April 19 to official community plan and zoning amendments for a mobile home park expansion in Wilson Creek and plans to apply tough environmental standards to the project, said Mayor Bruce Milne.
Developer Chapman Creek Holdings Ltd. wants to rezone two lots adjacent to Big Maple Mobile Home Park to R-5, which will expand the park by 1.55 hectares to accommodate about 28 additional mobile homes.
“We need to hold the mitigating geotechnical and environmental factors to the highest standards,” Milne said, noting that the district wants to use standards set by its own Water Resource Centre for design of the mobile park’s new sewer system. “The standards of Vancouver Coastal Health and the Ministry of Environment may be considerably lower.”
At a March 22 public hearing in Sechelt, attended by 21 people, some members of the public expressed concerns including potential flood hazards, loss of fish and bird habitat and traffic impact.
Regarding recurring odour complaints from the original Big Maple wastewater treatment plant, Milne told Coast Reporter last week: “They [owners] are going to put in a new system, hook up all the old mobiles and get it up to the right standard. It will be an overall improvement.”
Coun. Noel Muller said: “There were a lot of things to weigh for this, such as what’s going to happen to Chapman Creek. That hinges on the septic system.”
He added: “We have a desperate need for affordable housing in this district and that’s why I’m voting in favour.”
In a written submission last fall, Brian McFadyen, environmental health officer for Vancouver Coastal Health, stated: “As this neighbourhood continues to have increased density, the ideal solution would be a community sewer system operated under the supervision of the local government.”
Following the April 19 meeting, Milne said the district would not put in a sewer system for such a small project; it would take a property with at least several hundred homes to consider that option. However, he added, in its 2017 budget, the district has included a liquid waste management plan and study for Wilson Creek, which will examine the feasibility of having a municipal sewer system in that area.
