A Garibaldi Estates resident has started a petition asking council to involve the residents in any decision to repeal a bylaw that restricts subdivision of parcels in the neighbourhood.
District of Squamish plans to repeal Bylaw 211, which restricts subdivision of parcels known as the Veteran’s Land Act or VLA Lands.
The petition by Paul Kindree calls upon the council to assure the residents that they would be consulted before any decision is made to rescind the bylaw.
“Can Council assure the Residents of Garibaldi Estates that the recommendation by the Planning Department to rescind Bylaw 211,1966, which restricts the subdivision of the VLA lots, has not been pre-determined and that the Garibaldi Estates Resident will have the opportunity to determine how our neighbourhood evolves,” Kindree asks.
The petition comes after a land developer delivered letter saying they are engaging residents with the “goal of supporting growth and density in the Garibaldi Estates Neighbourhood Plan”.
Kindree says that the council and the planning Department have unwittingly created an upsetting and alarming speculative frenzy with their densification initiative for the Garibaldi Estates.
Mayor Karen Elliott recently addressed the issue in a response to another resident, who asked for an explanation about the developer’s letter.
“I was not aware that a developer had taken this approach to pre-empt our planning process with the neighbourhood and start to selfishly promote land assembly. Neighbourhood plans provide an opportunity for those living in the area and other folks in our community a chance to understand the constraints and opportunities of a neighbourhood, learn about the goals for our community as a whole as described in our Official Community Plan and then provide informed feedback to our staff and council on the plan as it is developed,” Elliott said.
“These developers are making a lot of assumptions about this plan before we have even started. This letter is upsetting to me as well and I will talk with our planning staff as well as our communications department to see what we can do to clear this up. I will also contact the developer to let them know my expectations for how this planning process will roll out.”
S. Berman says
The timeline for this engagement has already been set out. There is no petition necessary. Engagement on this initiative begins now and continues for 2 years. First and Second reading of any by-law changes are not expected until Jan Feb 2023, with third reading proposed for May 2023.
https://squamish.ca/yourgovernment/projects-and-initiatives/garibaldi-estates-neighbourhood-planning-process/