It's been one of the hottest and politically charged topics to hit Sechelt in a long time - and it all came to a head on Wednesday night.
After years of ups and downs, public information meetings, public hearings, hot debate from councillors and citizens and failed votes, the Silverback development proposed for Sandy Hook was approved by council.
After a no vote in April, it appeared the development was dead in the water, but Mayor Cam Reid used a valid and legal clause in the Community Charter to bring the defeated bylaw back to the table within 30 days of the defeat for a second vote.
During the past few weeks, business leaders and citizens in favour of the development spoke up and lobbied hard for council to change their minds - and that lobbying worked. Only two councillors voted against this time (councillors Keith Thirkell and Warren Allan) with councillors Darren Inkster and Mike Shanks reversing their previous votes and voting in favour.
The Seaside Centre was packed for the vote with almost an equal split of 'no' and 'yes' supporters. Both sides were vocal, in a civil way, and each had their say. In the end, the final vote rests with our elected officials.
If there was any good to come out of this re-vote, a firm commitment for affordable housing is now on the table and locked into the development, the District gets their much-needed $8 million for sewer treatment upgrades, there will be for certain an influx of construction jobs and a bolster to the economy, not to mention the economic spin-offs of the golf course development and more residents moving to and working in our community, thanks to the housing portion of the development.
But all of this has come with a cost. It has pitted resident against resident, councillor against councillor. It's too bad that somewhere in all this, some common ground couldn't have been found sooner. Maybe right from the start more consultation between all parties - the District, the developers and the community - could have been done. Maybe if that had been done, a sustainable development that met the desires of everyone in Sechelt could have been achieved and we would never have had to go down this sordid and twisted path.
