January rain may be falling, but the spectre of summer water shortages may be affecting some Coast property developers.
SCRD chief administrative officer, Dean McKinley confirmed via email to Coast Reporter on Dec. 22 that it has notified some property developers that further information is required around water supply modelling for their projects before their development permit applications can proceed. For projects that depend on regional water, an SCRD confirmation that water will be available to serve any new demands created is required.
“To be clear, the SCRD isn’t saying no to subdivisions or to development, we are saying we need a bit more time, relative to our standard process, to understand what is required for us to say yes,” he wrote.
McKinley did not include requested details on the number or the locations of impacted development applications in his response. He indicated a staff report on the matter is scheduled for board review at its Jan. 11 meeting. The SCRD’s administrative offices were closed for the winter holiday until Jan. 2. That meeting’s agenda is slated to be made public on its website on Jan. 5.
