The owners of an over-height home near completion in Davis Bay had their application for a development variance permit denied by District of Sechelt council at a regular meeting of council, Feb. 19.
The waterfront home in question, which is located on the Sunshine Coast Highway, is .04 metres (almost 16 inches) taller, than the district’s bylaw allows.
In a Sept. 2024 report to council staff wrote, a stop-work order had been issued by the district’s building department in May 2024, after the discovery of the over-height issue. A subsequent development variance permit application was requested to allow a height increase from 8.5 metres to 8.9 for the dwelling.
The report noted, while the original intent was to comply with the zoning bylaw height regulation the builder, Dreamline Construction Inc., made an error and “managed to go over height by a small margin.”
And, while at least one councillor said the owners had already paid a heavy price by having a stop-work order in place for more than nine months and should be allowed to continue, others agreed allowing the bylaw variance and build to be completed as is, sets a dangerous precedent for future construction.
“I want to just say publicly that I find these types of variance requests very difficult because, generally speaking, there's a lot of stress for all parties involved. A homeowner, residents within the neighbourhood, for others the impact can be significant and this has been evident in this situation by the letters we've received from the neighbours,” said Coun. Donna Bell. “I believe that although there was a mistake made throughout the building process in the height guidelines, I believe this was a mistake and not deliberate.”
Bell added, there’s been a great deal of consultation between district staff, the home’s owners and the community since the time the variance was submitted. She noted as a result, changes have been introduced which will assist staff in reducing these types of issues, particularly when an applicant is designing to a maximum limit.
“A stop-work order can be issued much sooner, where a survey requirement has been imposed by the district to ensure construction does not proceed until zoning compliance is confirmed,” said Bell. “This new procedure may slow construction development in some cases and incur complaints from builders, but will likely reduce the possibility of non-compliance structures.”
Coun. Adam Shepherd was also sympathetic to the homeowner’s dilemma, but that did not sway him from recommending staff go with option two of the February 2025 report, which would deny the application, require compliance with the zoning bylaw and see the third storey of the home be cut down by 0.4 metres. The removal of that space would put the house below the 2.1 metre minimum ceiling height required for a variety of residential spaces in Sechelt and result in the removal of three washrooms, four bedrooms, a living room and other habitable areas.
Shepherd said denying the application was the best option for the community.
“We're holding to the guideline so that we don't have to deal with these variance requests after the buildings are built. To me, this is the most frustrating point of these items that are coming before council,” said Shepherd. “So how do we avoid that in the future? What's the best thing for the community? Hold to the bylaw. So, I don't know what other end point there is.”
Coun. Alton Toth said he was initially in favour of allowing the variance, but after considering remarks from other councillors, he reconsidered.
"I'm still not really supportive of the upheaval, but I do appreciate the comments that Councillor McLauchlan has made and that Councillor Inkster has raised regarding both community and the scale of the massing of the building on the land," said Toth. "These are things that we do need to have a conversation about as part of the [official community plan] renewal and zoning changes going forward. Because, what might work on flat inland parts of Sechelt doesn't necessarily work on hillsides, doesn't necessarily work on waterfront. We are a very diverse community, so we need to definitely have more conversations.”
The final vote saw councillors Shepherd, McLauchlan, Toth and Inkster vote to deny the variance permit, with Bell and Mayor John Henderson voting in favour of the application.
