Many of the same names 鈥� both in support and against 鈥� turned out Thursday evening for the return of the Garibaldi Springs project to public hearing.
Approximately 80 residents were on hand for the almost four-hour long hearing held at Brennan Park Recreation Centre.听
The revamped proposal to re-develop the former golf course in northern Squamish passed first and second reading on July 3, although councillors Jason Blackman-Wulff, Susan Chapelle and Peter Kent voted against moving it forward.
The 48.3 acres is currently zoned greenspace. The decision facing the council is whether to rezone the private property to allow for residential construction on 21 per cent of the land. Most of the remaining land would become an ecological reserve, trails, and parkland donated to the District.
The original project was turned down by council on May 8, but returned with changes based on feedback.
The new version of the project moves a large portion of the housing into the southern parcel, to avoid fragmenting the ecological reserve. The overall number of units has also been decreased from 350 to 310.
Concerns about ecological value
As in the previous public hearing, the rezoning of greenspace was a point of contention among residents who want the overgrown golf course to remain untouched.
The new version of the plan is meant to provide less fragmentation of habitat.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) will need to approve the changes, but that can only happen once council makes a zoning decision.
Chessy Knight, president of the Squamish Watershed Society, said the existing land is far from ideal habitat, despite the presence of fish and the Pacific water shrew, which is threatened in 小蓝视频
鈥淲here [was the ecological concern] 15 years ago when we were trying to stop the golf course, when the damage was originally done? That鈥檚 just my opinion,鈥� she told the room.
鈥淲e think there is a huge opportunity to restore a lot of functioning aquatic and wetland habitat. If this proposal goes away, and everybody is depending on federal agencies and provincial agencies to protect this site, well, we don鈥檛 live in that world right now, and I don鈥檛 know when that world is coming back.鈥�
Knight said storm water management will be very important to the site. The Squamish Streamkeepers and Squamish Trails Society have both supported the new Polygon plan.
Polygon paid for an ecological assessment completed by Cascade Environmental, and the District hired a third-party consultant to complete a peer review.
A number of residents living nearby in existing developments have also expressed concern that the project will change their view, cause the removal of trees and impact privacy.
鈥淲ill there be a tree left if we look out at the development?鈥� said resident Andreas Albat, who added developments at Skyridge and Dowad Drive have already reduced foliage in the area.
Concerns about process
Unlike at the previous public hearing, council heard plenty of frustration around process.
Generally, after an application is rejected at third reading, developers must wait a full six months before returning with a proposal before council. In this case, the new Official Community Plan and the revisions to the project allowed Polygon to bypass that waiting period.
Gwen Young, a member of Keep Garibaldi Green, a community group opposed to the project, said she felt that the application had 鈥渂oomeranged鈥� and quoted councillors opposition to the project at first and second reading.
"The [summer] timing makes it near impossible for citizens to dedicate time to forumlate a strong defense. And, the public is exhausted. Months and endless hours were invested by many to protest and preserve the community the first time around. It's unfair to place the burden on rallying another herculean effort to once again protest only weeks after we put our pens down," she said.
Keep Garibaldi Green has a petition with 1,800 signatures opposed to the project.
Another criticism of the process behind this project was that the first reading for the new iteration had to be rescheduled after a concerned citizen pointed out that the full commenting period of 21 days had not been observed.
Young said the group has formally complained to the 小蓝视频 Ombudsman about the process, although it could be a long wait to have any grievances addressed through that official body.
Concerns about traffic and CACs
Some residents at the public hearing expressed concern that increased development in the area will mean more traffic at existing pinch points.
In response, District staff said 鈥渕any pre-existing traffic conditions require resolution鈥� and a full assessment needs to be done in the area.
Among the potential short-term fixes are a traffic signal at Dowad Drive and Highway 99, a roundabout at the Garibaldi-Tantalus Road-Tantalus Way intersection, and an additional right-turn access to Highway 99.
Part of the proposal is $580,000 from Polygon that will go toward traffic upgrades.
Additional benefits proposed include 18 affordable housing units; $3 million in cash towards affordable housing; trail construction, a daycare constructed on site and $4.4 million for park and ecological reserve improvements.
Resident Edward Archibald, who identified himself as a developer before speaking at the public hearing, said that 鈥渢he cash being presented by Polygon is not nearly enough.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e short about $10 million as a community, which I know could go a long way to a lot of community infrastructure that we need currently,鈥� he said.
In response, Kevin Shoemaker said that the CAC calculation was 鈥渋ncredibly complex鈥� and that the site is unserviced, which impacts the numbers involved.
The Polygon proposal will next return to council for a vote on third reading.
听
**Correction: Please note, the original version of this story incorrectly referred to the date in which the original project was turned down. Previous quotes from Jason Blackman-Wulff were incorrectly atrributed to Gwen Young, and have been corrected. The 小蓝视频 regrets the error.
