Beach Gardens Resort and Marina’s traffic consultant will be invited to make a presentation of the company’s findings at a future meeting of City of Powell River Council.
At the June 3 committee of the whole meeting, director of planning services Jason Gow said he was presenting a summary of correspondence following initial engagement with nearby residents related to a combined zoning and land use designation application received from the Beach Gardens for a 215-unit housing development.
Gow said following the April 3 council meeting, where staff presented the application that proposes to amend the city’s official community plan and zoning bylaw, notice was mailed to 139 owners and occupiers of land in a minimum distance of 100 metres from the boundaries of the subject property.
“The mail out was successful in that planning services staff received numerous enquiries by phone and across the counter from those who were notified of the proposal,” said Gow. “In terms of correspondence, the city received one petition with 33 signatures, plus 16 letters or emails.
“The petition with 33 signatures was signed almost exclusively by residents who live on Westminster Street. The petitioners request that council require two conditions should council approve the application.”
Gow said the first was that a proper and safe route be established to deal with the traffic flow from the Beach Gardens, and second, that all traffic be precluded from entering the corner of Westminster Street and Cariboo Avenue. He said in addition, all traffic should be precluded from entering Cariboo, with the exception of a properly controlled intersection near the top of Cariboo.
“As for the 16 pieces of correspondence received, all have concerns with the proposal and almost all state they are opposed,” said Gow. “They request that council deny the application. The most common areas of concern are increased traffic and associated safety, parking, how increased density will impact the existing neighbourhood character, and whether there is adequate infrastructure capacity to support a development of this scale.”
Gow said staff have recommended that the Beach Gardens’ consultant, CTS Traffic Engineering Specialists, which prepared the traffic impact assessment, be invited to present their findings at a future meeting of council. He said this would be an opportunity for council and the community to hear firsthand how the consultant prepared the assessment and came to the conclusions.
“Council would also be able to ask clarifying questions of the consultants regarding their methods and findings to gain a better understanding of how safety considerations were factored into that assessment,” said Gow.
Gow said the city will be reliant on the experts to address some of the concerns raised by members of the community.
Council unanimously carried a motion to invite CTS Traffic Engineering Specialists, which prepared the impact assessment in support of the proposed zoning and land use designation amendment application, to present its findings at a future meeting of council.
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