Sechelt Mayor Darnelda Siegers made it clear at a Feb. 3 regular council meeting that she wants to see a draft of a revamped zoning bylaw sooner than later.
She acknowledged staff’s heavy workload before asking for a timeline.
“We’re just anxious to get this going. I know you are, too,” she said.
Planning director Andrew Allen said COVID-19 has made it more difficult to meet and work on the project, but drafting is expected to occur in February and March.
“I can’t say that first council meeting in April this will be on the agenda, but we’re certainly targeting this spring,” he said.
Allen summed up the state of Zoning Bylaw 580, which hasn’t seen a major overhaul since 1987: “If this bylaw were a house, you probably wouldn’t want to renovate it. You’d probably want to knock it down.”
In agreement, Siegers stressed that the current bylaw is causing issues for both staff and the development community.
Coun. Matt McLean added the bylaw needs to be fixed for residents of Sechelt in general.
“It’s really hard to have some kind of expectation about what your neighbourhood is going to develop into when the zoning bylaw is all over the place and is unaligned with the Official Community Plan,” he said.
The reported noted staff is constrained by inquiries from the public, development applications and council priorities.
A range of ideas was included in the summary report of the feedback on the bylaw.
At a public meeting on Dec. 10, written submissions asked for support for electric vehicles and “solar readiness,” restrictions on cannabis in the Agricultural Land Reserve and “more neighbourhood commercial opportunities.”
Feedback was also solicited from community groups.
The West Sechelt Community Association didn’t want to see affordable housing introduced into areas of higher valued homes and wanted to see more support for urban agriculture.
Other community groups wanted to see a mix of commercial and residential in different areas, including the downtown boulevard and along waterfront of East Porpoise Bay designated as Working Waterfront in the Official Community Plan.
Short-term rentals still appeared to be the most pressing concern – the issue was touched on by most community groups and about 50 letters about it were submitted at the Dec. 10 public meeting.
An online survey also saw an intense focus on short-term rentals, with the topic receiving the most responses of any, at 383.
The report said there was a stronger level of support for short-term rentals among survey respondents, while there is strong opposition in written submissions to council and local media.
“Most survey respondents want good operators to be recognized, or regulations in place that can provide for metrics to consider good operators or maximum number of rooms/guests,” said the report. It also noted there was “a strong sentiment for those who oppose short-term rentals based on noise, impact on housing availability, ineffective enforcement options, a lessened of sense of neighbourhood, etc.”
McLean pointed out 89 per cent of respondents believe there should be an operator on site or a contact nearby. “That could be a really quick win that has a high degree of community support,” he said.
Most survey respondents supported home-based businesses, though cannabis production was raised as a concern.
Staff suggested that council either receive the report or conduct further engagement prior to writing a draft.
Councillors voted on a motion, made by Coun. Alton Toth, to forward the report to the district’s Advisory Planning Commission.
Siegers asked how people can stay up to date with the process.
Allen said people can write to [email protected].
