At a regular council meeting on July 18, the District of Squamish council will vote on approving a development permit application for the second phase of homes at the former Garibaldi Springs golf course. The proposal is for the second phase of a four-phase development located at 2100 Newport Ridge Drive.
Phase 2 consists of 38 buildings with 14 duplexes and 113 townhouses for a total of 127 housing units. Of these, 19 townhouses include a 1-bedroom lock-off suite. As many as 117 units are 3-bedroom units while 10 townhouses are two-bedroom units. The District of Squamish first approved the site for development in 2018, establishing an ecological reserve zoning along with areas for mixed-use residential. According to a recent district report, there is lack of townhomes in Squamish.
According to a staff report, the majority of public benefits were provided with the first phase of development, including the dedication of park and ecological reserve lands for habitat restoration and construction of active public parks and trails.
Other benefits include cash contributions of $3.07 million in Community Amenity Contributions and provision of 18 affordable rental units. The developer, Polygon, is providing 305 parking spaces, which meets the bylaw requirement.
The developer is asking for two variances: To vary minimum driveway length from 6m to 1.6m and to vary maximum height from 10.68 metre to 11.18 metre. According to the staff report, the minimum driveway length is not achievable where housing units are located on steep sloped. Staff are recommending to reduce the minimum driveway length to accommodate existing slope and registration of a covenant to mitigate the impact of shorter driveways.
