Powell River Regional District directors passed the initial readings of an official community plan (OCP) bylaw for Electoral Area B at the June board meeting.
Directors also passed a motion appointing Director Stan Gisborne to hold a public hearing.
The motions were passed without discussion, although directors did discuss the OCP at the planning committee meeting held on June 26.
Laura Roddan, planner, presented a report about the OCP at that meeting. A community engagement process, which took place in April and May, included two open houses, a community survey and additional feedback from provincial ministries and agencies, community organizations, local businesses and Tla’amin (Sliammon) First Nation.
Based on the feedback, in addition to changes put forward by Gisborne, the plan was revised then presented to the board for first and second reading.
Gisborne said he was pleased with the plan. “I’m really impressed and thankful for how well the planner has revised the draft plan and recognized all existing uses,” he said. “She came up with wording that is certainly much clearer than what we had before.”
Earlier in the meeting, directors had passed a motion to note and file an email from Charles and Kim Barton-Bridges about the land-use designation for a property on Stevenson Road that had been the site of a concrete batch plant. The western portion of the lot is designated mixed commercial/light industrial in the draft OCP.
The Barton-Bridges wrote that they were unhappy with the designation of the properties east of Stevenson Road as light industrial. “Stevenson Road was meant to be the division between commercial and residential properties and this should not be changed,” they wrote.
Area A Director Patrick Brabazon said he thought the committee should do more than “note and file” the correspondence. He said he was willing to accept that the regional district was going to a public hearing on the OCP. “I want to hear what the people say,” he said. “That was my position a year ago and it’s still my position.”
The issue of land use on Stevenson Road is going to be the “burr under the saddle” that the regional district is going to have to deal with, Brabazon added.
The draft OCP is available on the regional district’s website. No date has been set for the public hearing.
