By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: April 25, 2014
The district has rejected an application to amend the OCP designation and rezoning his 37-acreproperty on the west end of the Depot Road in Brackendale.
The property owner wanted two amendments: Firstly, amend the OCP designation from Green Corridors and Recreation to Residential. Secondly, rezone the property to increase the number of subdivided lots from ten 10-acre lots to thirty 2-acre lots.
Both were rejected. A lot on the 10-acre property that sits on the banks of Judd Slough is selling for $1.2 million.
District first granted an application to create a subdivision of seven 10-acre lot in 2012. A year later, the owner submitted another application to rezone the property to a higher density 30, two-acre lots.
Flood and dike access further complicate the issue. The property is located close to the Squamish River and is largely protected by a dike.
A long narrow strip of the property, however, is also located on the water (west) side of the dike. The district’s flood hazard management plan gives this property a higher risk rating for flooding, and notes that engineering fill is required to achieve flood construction levels.
A 2011 study by the district also found out that a portion of the Squamish river dike on the present property is low.
The district also lacks a right of way for the dike on the subject property, and the applicant isn’t keen on giving one, saying that the district can upgrade the dikes without right-of-way.
Considering flood hazard, dike issues and lack of community amenities, the staff recommended that council reject the application, which they did.
Council may have rejected this application, but there is no dearth of subdivision and rezoning applications.
New Subdivision Planned
A new four-phased subdivision is being planned on Logger Lane, with 27 lots for phase 1 and a potential of 117 lots.
Also under review is an application to allow 30 smaller single family lots on Depot Road in Brackendale.
The district is also considering an application for a 53 unit townhouse development distributed over eight buildings. The units, varying in size from 104 sq m to 132 sq m, will contain either two or three bedrooms over three storeys.
The proposal for the property at 39885 Government Road is to rezone the property from Residential 2 (RS-2) to Residential Small Lot (RS-3) to accommodate single-unit dwellings on small lots and subdivide the subject parcel into ten single-unit RS-3 lots.
Vancouver based development company Solterra will also begin construction on Nature’s Gate, a 50-townhome development north of the Rockcliff building along Eaglewind .
MichaelL65 says
Maybe the property owner should have just gone ahead and started building and gone to council after? Seems to work for some people.