Opponents to DeCourcy re-zoning application speak to Local Trust Council
Derek Kilbourn
derek@soundernews.com
Tuesday, March 9 2010
Neil Varcoe and Darryl Lyons, full-time residents from Decourcy Island, were at the latest Local Trust Committee meeting, opposing a re-zoning application from Roundtuit Farms to create an overflow parking lot for the Decourcy Marina.
Neil said, “a comment on the whole process of the whole application. This has been in place for about three years. What a large problem of the application arises from is there has been a lot of disinformation, in fact out and out lies, provided by the applicant.
“This is why I became suspicious.”
Neil said his first issue with the application is that it states cars were parked on the roadway because the parking lot was full.
“This is not true. There has never been a car parked on the roadway in front of the parking lot or anywhere else on the roadway.
“The parking lot is not full, has never been full. There is no need for another parking lot.”
Neil pointed out that at the present time, the marina is full.
“So if the marina is full, but the parking lot is not full, that’s it.
“There is no requirement for any more parking, because there isn’t going to be any more cars parked there.”
His second point was that while the land being applied for in the application has been unofficially treated as an overflow parking lot for many years, it has only been used once.
Neil then asked what the reason might be for the application then.
“The applicants have refused any covenants be put on the land that is being applied for re-zoning.
“The covenants that were asked for was simply that it be a parking lot in the future. That’s what they wanted. But they have refused.”
Pat Maloney, Island Planner, said the draft bylaw has been revised but that what is available on the LTC web site may be out-dated. It will be updated to allow residents to read it prior to a March 20 Community information meeting on the application.
LTC Chair Lousia Bell said, “we thank you for your comments with respect to the validity of the claims of the applicant and we’ll take that in to consideration.”
Darryl said, “The application mentions again shows Tom Kendal as the Decourcy Island Ratepayers Association.
“There is no Decourcy Island Ratepayers Association. Tom is the president of the Community Association, but he only represents the 60 to 65 members of the Community Association.
“He has been shown to be the president of the Ratepayers Association a few times and it would appear to be a little misleading. People are going to be reading this [application] and think obviously if he is a member of the ratepayers that we’re all on board when obviously we’re not.”
The applicant is proposing the amend the DeCourcy Island Land Use Bylaw No. 44 to rezone a portion of land near the Marina to permit development of an overflow parking lot.
The proposal includes rezoning the subject area for only and solely the marina overflow parking use;
Including the area within the adjacent developed firehall site;
Severing an approximate 2.5 acre site containing the proposed parking area from the parent parcel; and
Attaching the newly formed parcel to the marina property.
Under the current application, no residential or commercial uses would be permitted. No other new uses on the site would be allowed such as storage or additional density, nor would any further subdivision of the newly created lot be permitted.
The subject property is currently zoned Rural (R) and the proposed zoning would be Centralized Moorage (W3) as part of the current marina property.
Tom Kendal, who has been the primary speaker for the application, said to the LTC at a meeting in late 2009, “speaking for the Decourcy Island Community Association, which supports the application, I invited the Trust Committee to Decourcy Island. The Committee did convene a meeting on Decourcy Island in August [2009] after which Rountuit proceeded with its application, under the impression that the free parking for everyone in perpetuity had been dealt with.
“Since then there have been two more iterations of the report, attempting to include other possible future needs and to ensure that there could be no other uses of the property. However the LTC seems to still be requiring a public amenity.
“I would suggest that the solution to this impasse is that Rountuit simplify the application by dropping the other future uses. The application will be to sever the 2.5 acre site, downzone it for firehall and parking uses, and attach it to the marina property by lot line adjustment. There is no small lot, no increase in density, no upzoning and I think therefore no rationale for requiring a public amenity.
“This application is consistent with the “Bylaw Amendment Guide” and the Decourcy Island Official Community Plan.
“This may not be the perfect outcome but all solutions are compromises and I believe that this is far better than losing this opportunity to provide for our islands needs.”
The Trust office is requesting feedback on the application through a mail-out to residents of DeCourcy Island, with March 20, 2010 as the deadline for submissions.
On Saturday, March 20, the Local Trust Committee will be holding a Community Information Meeting in Nanaimo at the Aquatic Centre, in multi-purpose room 1 at 10:30 a.m.
Feedback received from the March 20 meeting and submissions sent in by March 20 will be included in the March 30 LTC meeting agenda.
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