Two new housing developments are slated for Squamish.
Shovels will soon be in the ground on the first, the Newport Landing housing development on Britannia Avenue in Dentville.
On Sept. 15, council granted a development permit for the 29-unit townhouse development at 38684 Britannia Avenue.
The commercial-zoned land was converted to residential for the development and will keep with the existing character of the area, district staff said.
The builder has contributed $60,000 to a district fund for a public park in Dentville as an amenity contribution.
Councillor Jason Blackman-Wulff described the development as “cheap, ugly, unneighbourly” and said he was disappointed in the proposal.
The development, which is located near the Squamish Youth Resource Centre, had variances that will provide less public space and only partially private yards.
“This is an example of density done badly, and it concerns me that this will affect our ability to approve future projects that are actually good density in our communities when we have these things for examples,” Blackman-Wulff said. “I can’t support this.”
Councillor Susan Chapelle said she didn’t like the conversion of land to “badly designed density.”
“When I look at this proposal, I just see a bunch of houses with no public space and no real places for families to gather – it is just density.”
The use of some vinyl siding on the units, which goes against development permit guidelines, was a sticking point for council.
“We don’t generally put vinyl siding, and I must say since we brought that rule in our community, projects look way better, and I don’t want to diminish the quality,” said Mayor Patricia Heintzman. “Even our affordable units, we don’t want them to look cheap or we don’t want them to get mouldy.”
The proponent, represented by Colin Hogan of Focus Architecture, said using the vinyl would save $3,000 to $5,000 per unit.
Chapelle proposed that the vinyl siding be changed, and councillors Ted Prior and Peter Kent concurred. “Get rid of the vinyl siding,” Prior said then voiced his support for the development permit.
Heintzman said she would support the development without the vinyl siding.
“I actually don’t mind the design, I quite like it,” she said. “But I don’t think we want to cheapen any development with vinyl siding.”
The development permit, without the vinyl siding, was granted, with Chapelle and Blackman-Wulff opposed.
The second new project planned for Squamish is a 70-unit townhouse project for 39548 Loggers Lane that passed first and second reading at council on Sept. 15. The development permit will be brought forward at a later date, according to district staff.
The project, by The Arlington Group, is adjacent to Brennan Park Recreation Centre, and the applicant offered $140,000 toward upgrades at the centre.
Kent said he was concerned about the development’s potential impact on traffic in the area, “which I would find to be fairly excessive from what it is now,” he said.
District planner Sarah McJannet said that the traffic study showed that the road could handle the extra 75 cars per hour on a weekday afternoon that would be brought by the development.
Chapelle voted against first and second reading, voicing opposition to the changing of the property designation to residential from employment/industrial in the Official Community Plan and zoning, and said it is a worrisome theme in the district. “This is a perfect place for commercial and light-use industrial. We want to invite rec tech and if we continue using up our land for density… we are using up every inch of our land for developers coming to town and putting up density,” she said. “There are other areas for density.”
A public hearing on the Arlington Group development will be held on Oct. 6 at Municipal Hall, at 6 p.m.
More information on both projects can be found at squamish.ca under the Development and Project Showcase tab.
**Please note this story has been updated to reflect the scheduled public hearing.
