Tempers were high, but so was the support for an official community plan (OCP) amendment and rezoning that would allow Target Marine Hatcheries to process sturgeon for caviar on their property next to Tillicum Bay Marina.
While a handful of opponents spoke about their strong desire to see council deny the amendment and rezoning, by far the majority at a community information meeting held Jan. 13 seemed in favour of the move.
"Is this OCP process preventing you from processing sturgeon this year? If it is, what can we do to speed this up and get you guys processing this year," one man said to loud applause from the audience of about 80 people who came to the meeting at the Seaside Centre last Thursday.
Target Marine Hatch-eries' general manager Justin Henry responded by encouraging those in favour of the proposal to get their comments into council as soon as possible.
"Anyone who is opposed to it has definitely already let council know," Henry said.
Target Marine Hatcheries has been working toward the goal of harvesting caviar from the sturgeon they spawned for the past 11 years. Henry said about $5 million has gone into the effort so far and all that is needed now is an OCP and zoning amendment to allow the company to extract the caviar eggs from the female sturgeon on site- -a process that will take about half an hour to complete.
"We are asking for the right to add the last half hour to 11 years of sturgeon culture and we are asking the community to support this initiative to leave no doubt in Sechelt council's minds that this is what the community wants. Sechelt can become the caviar capital of Canada," Henry said.
The process of extracting the eggs is not a high-tech one, as was shown with a video presentation at the meeting.
"There is no large machinery or equipment involved. The only equipment needed is a table, a knife, a bowl and a scale," Henry said.
Opponents cited concerns with noise and the suitability of having a processing plant situated so close to residential properties.
"I live on Tillicum Bay Road next to the marina and I can hear the machinery from the hatchery from our house. If the District had said they were planning to use the property for this purpose, we wouldn't have ever built there," said resident Pat Carroll.
Henry responded by saying the current noise level from the hatchery was investigated by the District of Sechelt, which found "the noise is not a concern."
Nearby residents who attended the meeting disagreed with the finding and asked for more sound buffering at the site.
Henry said the company would look into minimizing the noise, adding that the zoning amendment people were at the meeting to talk about would not result in any additional noise.
To the question of why a hatchery would set up in a residential area to begin, with Henry said the company had owned the property for more than 24 years, and they have taken steps to ensure their site, which sits on five acres of their 60-acre property, is buffered by 55 acres of trees to minimize the impact on the surrounding neighbourhood.
The sheer size of their property brought up other questions from attendees who worried they would use their new zoning, if granted, to increase their footprint and run a larger operation.
"The wording [of the OCP amendment] is open ended. By putting processing in there you could run something 14 times bigger," said resident Mike Hertz. (Read more concerns from Mr. Hertz in his letter to the editor on page 9.)
Henry said the company does not plan to increase its size.
"If there's a way we can word our zoning to limit the size, then that's what we'll do. We're happy to do that," Henry said.
If the OCP amendment and zoning change are not granted, Target Marine Hatcheries does not plan to give up on its goal of harvesting caviar. Instead they will look into the option of moving the sturgeon to a suitable site to have the extraction take place.
Henry said that scenario, however, would create a large increase in truck traffic to and from the site and impact their ability to monitor the quality of the caviar.
The issue will go to Sechelt council's Jan. 25 planning meeting to be discussed further and a recommendation will be made to forward to the next council meeting. Following first reading of the proposed changes to the OCP and zoning a public hearing will be scheduled.
