Powell River Regional District directors amended a motion about an Island Timberlands subdivision in the Stillwater area after residents raised concerns during the August 23 board meeting.
About 25 people attended the meeting, which was held at Lang Bay Community Hall. Many of those present expressed concerns about the subdivision, particularly its impact on a driveway that leads to two adjacent properties.
Island Timberlands has applied to subdivide about 50 hectares that it owns upland of Stillwater Bay, property that encompasses the Stillwater dry land sort. The six lots vary in size from about two to 20 hectares.
Island Timberlands’ subdivision application proposes to extend Stillwater School Road to access the two adjacent properties. Yet a driveway has led to those properties since the 1920s, approximately.
Neil Woloschuk, whose address is on Scotch Fir Point Road, said a drinking water line and fire protection standpipe also come down the existing driveway. “It’s going to create a lot of turmoil,” he said. “If this road goes through, it’s going to be real close to everybody’s house, there’s going to be dust and extra traffic.”
Colin Palmer, board chair and Electoral Area C director, explained there is no dedication for the driveway currently. “There is nothing legal about that driveway, that’s the whole issue,” he said. “The subdivision proposal has brought that up.”
Palmer also said while the regional district makes recommendations about the subdivision, the ministry of highways and infrastructure makes the final decision.
When another resident asked for more details about the subdivision, Mac Fraser, regional district chief administrative officer, explained the application was for a land subdivision into large blocks, not a development subdivision.
Palmer said one of the reasons for the subdivision was to return the ownership of the dry land sort property to Western Forest Products.
Other residents said since Island Timberlands logged the property along Loubert Road, it sounds as if the dry land sort is right in their backyard. They said a sound barrier had fallen into disrepair and was not effective.
When the motion to advise the ministry of transportation and infrastructure that the regional district supports the proposed subdivision came before the board, directors approved an amendment. They included the “repair and retention of the existing canvas sound barrier or its equivalent” in a condition to establish a restrictive covenant for the maintenance of a wind-firm noise and visual buffer along the dry land sort property.
As well, they approved a clause that provides “an easement for the existing driveway, water and fire line access from Scotch Fir Point Road to Lots D and E.”
Other conditions included approval from the Agricultural Land Commission, as one of the proposed new lots is in the agricultural land reserve; the establishment of a restrictive covenant for the protection of watercourses in line with the riparian areas regulation; and that the buffer area between the dry land sort and the rest of the property include a beach access trail.
