I attended the second of 2 Public Hearings and Council Meeting on Tuesday July 17, 2018 and thought I would share some of the areas which stood out to me and/or have impact in Carr's Landing. This is not in any way intended to be full nor formal record of the meeting and any opinions are my own.
Full details of the agenda and the forthcoming formal minutes can be found on the DLC website.
All Council were present except for Cllr. Gambell.
The second public hearing of the night was on the new Cannabis Bylaw and was the second of two public hearings on this. There were questions from Council about the amount of concrete proposed for the CannaWorks site in Oyama and the impact that it would have on soil quality/future agriculture.
Council Meeting – all proposals were passed with the exception of the 3rd reading for an amendment to Turtle Bay Crossing to change the remaining unoccupied drive-through from a commercial use i.e. bank to fast food. Concerns cited included increased traffic causing issues with intersection of Hwy97 & Oceola Road, especially on the left turn from the Hwy and the already high volume of fast-food outlets in Lake Country. The reading was defeated 4:1 (Cllrs Geier, Lambert, Ireland, MacKenzie: Cllr. Scarrow)
The owner of Turtle Bay Crossing was allowed to speak and explained how difficult it has been for them to rent the space as a commercial drive through. This is the first offer they have had in 3 years and they have nothing else to occupy this space.
In Cllr Comments: Cllr. Lambert asked DLC Staff if it would be possible for the owner to change the use of the space to an alternative designation other than drive through to improve the rentability of the space. DLC Staff noted that it would be a ‘rezoning’ to the site plan for the development but it was something that would be an option to the owner of the property.
Mark Koch and Joel Short (Urban Systems) presented the first reading of the draft Official Community Plan and the recommendation from DLC Staff for further public engagement during the summer prior to a second and third reading was approved unanimously. Noting that the draft OCP spoke to many environmental concerns Cllrs. Scarrow & MacKenzie asked that the OCP provide support for the declining populations of native honey bees.
Speaking with Mark Koch after Council regarding the timeline for public and engagement and further readings, he was of the view that there will be a lot of time for this and that the approval of the draft OCP will fall to the new Council after the local elections in October 2018.
Great presentation by Dr. Sharon McCoubrey from the Public Art Advisory Committee (which includes Carr's Landing resident Chris Malmkvist).
During Councillor Comments Cllr. Lambert raised the following issues:
Speeding along Carr’s Landing Road
The ‘cropping up’ of private moorage buoys at Coral Beach
Boats parking infront of community water intake at Coral Beach
Michael Mercer (Engineering @ DLC) advised Council that there is a bylaw to protect community water intakes as these are ‘no go’ areas for boats & buoys.
Cllr. Geier noted it was necessary for him to formally advise Council that he is teaching Science Camp over the summer as part of the DLC’s Leisure Program as DLC staff have advised that this is a conflict of interest.
Cllr. Ireland commented that boaters are dumping holding tanks one/near our beaches including one incident at Rainbow Ranch beach. If seen, this should be reported to the police.