What could be a truce between the local land development community and the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) over feared delays to building projects was detailed at a Jan. 25 SCRD committee meeting.
Background
Discussions on regional water system fire flows, which in some areas are below recommended standards, brought a meeting room full of locals interested in land development to the event. Over the previous six weeks, the potential for restrictions on reviews of development permit applications until local government water infrastructure was improved was raised in correspondence sent out by the SCRD and the District of Sechelt, much to the chagrin of the local land development sector.
At a Jan. 11 SCRD committee meeting, members of that group called for a halt to local government actions they viewed as tantamount to “a hold” on land development.
Jan. 25 proposal
“We heard you," was SCRD chief administrative officer (CAO) Dean McKinley’s response to those who attended the Jan. 25 follow-up event as he opened discussions on the matter. He outlined how, at the direction of the board, staff had developed an approach that would see permit applications dealt with on a “case by case” basis.
A staff report on the meeting agenda noted that the regional district’s current practice of assessing proposed water infrastructure upgrades associated with development applications does not contradict either its subdivision servicing or water regulation bylaws. “As a result, there are no revisions required to either bylaw to implement Board direction…The SCRD will work with the developers to find agreeable solutions aligned with SCRD’s water infrastructure planning in accordance with engineering best practices and without putting additional undue costs on existing water service participants," the report stated.
In what he called “a deep dive into bylaws and practices” McKinley stated regional staff were “prepared to work with the development community now and in the future, and to do that successfully."
In the view of Gibsons’ area director Silas White, “The biggest take away is staff’s willingness to work with developers on this.”
Bruce Mason of Westcor Developments, who was part of the building community contingent at the meeting, told Coast Reporter in an email that he was "very pleased to hear that the CAO of the SCRD is leading his staff to not stand in the way of development but rather work with developers to grow through this challenge.
“Developers, and not governments, are the ones who build our communities and as such, it is imperative to involve the community industry leaders – in this case, Developers – in any discussions and planning of this kind," wrote Mason. "It would be a mistake to restrict the input of our expert development community by limiting it to comments only after the staff has spent many hours and much of our money with outside consultants pursuing what may ultimately not be the answer for our community.”
Committees look at more study
In Round 2 of budget discussions on Feb. 6, the finance committee approved spending $250,000 on a Fire Flow Action Plan (FFAP) and a utility services engineer for that and other work, to be funded from operating reserves.
This plan is intended to outline the actions needed to address the identified fire flow concerns. It will also outline the financial implications for the areas where infrastructure upgrades are the recommended approach, and how the costs of installing new infrastructure can be shared equitably with developers in servicing future population growth.
At the Feb. 22 Committee of the Whole meeting, staff are slated to present the results of modelling completed to forecast the fire flow outlook to the mid 2040s based on currently approved zoning and population growth projections. Both the finance committee recommendations and actions coming out of the Feb. 22 meeting require board endorsement to go forward.
