There were more complaints than nods of approval during a public hearing for a new seniors’ facility planned for a portion of the Clayton Family Lands behind the Trail Bay Estates development in West Sechelt.
The seniors’ facility, called Wesbrooke by the Sea Independent Supportive and Assisted Living Centre in its current form, calls for a four-storey building height of 16.76 metres above the natural grade, a public park land swap of 0.1288 hectares and up to 116 sleeping units, one of which may be used as a guest suite.
When the hearing on the proposal was opened to the public for comment on April 12, Patrick Hobbs, a realtor with Remax who was representing nearby property owners the Sangaras, was the first to voice several concerns.
“Never before in my 25 years of living and working in the real estate industry on the Sunshine Coast have I ever seen a park designation changed and/or swapped,” Hobbs said, noting that when he started marketing the Silverstone Heights development (owned by the Sangara family) two years ago, “we were going by the OCP, which was single-family residential zoning around the entire development.”
He said the proposed height was also a concern, as it would create “a large structure towering over the residential properties in the surrounding area.”
Hobbs said other developments in the area had been made to meet a 10.5-metre height restriction.
He also raised a concern about the lack of a buffer on the side of the development where a loading dock would be located, which is close to the Silverstone Heights development.
“With 116 units serving three meals a day, I was told one vehicle will come once a week to facilitate the needs of that kitchen. I’m going to cry foul on that one,” Hobbs said.
“If those [Silverstone Heights] people have bought their retirement homes for peaceful enjoyment, they will be listening to back-up vehicles all day. I don’t think that’s fair to them. I don’t think that’s fair to us who are marketing that development, Silverstone Heights, as a residential development. Now we have a commercial entity beside us.”
Other speakers also raised concerns about the height of the project, possible traffic issues to and from the development and the park land swap that would take away a rock bluff and replace it with a flat piece of green space.
One nearby resident also brought up privacy concerns, as the building would overlook several residential dwellings, and concerns about blasting that would be needed for the development to be built.
“I know there were issues when that area was initially blasted, so I’m not sure that has been resolved yet,” she said.
Of the seven community members who spoke at the hearing, three said they were in favour of the development, despite concerns some voiced.
“We have a tsunami of older people coming and I’m one of them and we need facilities,” speaker Linda Smith said.
Sechelt council will now consider the feedback and possibly suggest changes to the developer before contemplating second reading of the OCP and zoning amendments needed for the proposal to move forward.
