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Council won't halt Brackendale development

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There won't be a moratorium on new development in Brackendale.

Coun. Corinne Lonsdale indicated at the Nov. 15 District of Squamish (DOS) Council meeting that she intended to ask council to support a motion that would lead to the deferral of any development plans on the Brackendale floodplain until impacts of development on the dikes, drainage, road capacity and the environment is determined.

Mayor Ian Sutherland said he opposed deferring the issue because he wanted lawmakers to deal with it right away. He said Lonsdale was grandstanding at the Nov. 15 meeting in an attempt to win votes from Brackendale residents when she decided to give notice of the motion.

"I was not grandstanding," said Lonsdale

Coun. Sonja Lebans, who was not re-elected in the municipal election, sided with Sutherland.

"This notice of motion is a make-work project for staff," said Lebans.

Cameron Chalmers, the director of planning with the DOS, told the councillors that much of the study work is already done, but future studies in Brackendale need to be broader in scope to address the concerns expressed by residents and the members of council.

"The message is very clear, the public and council concern is evident," said Chalmers.

Lonsdale said the DOS needs to be more proactive and learn better from previous mistakes. She suggested that under the current development scenario, the last developer on Judd Road would be left having to pay for a major upgrade of Judd while earlier developers remain off the hook for the major upgrade.

Brackendale resident Isabel Banner indicated an interest in speaking to the lawmakers, but Sutherland ruled that council wouldn't hear any delegations on the issue.

Lonsdale attempted to have the discussion deferred to after 7 p.m. to give residents a chance to share their thoughts with council but Sutherland pointed out that would go against normal council procedures for the final meeting of the month. The agenda for the third meeting of the month does not include an unscheduled public attendance segment where people can request to speak to council without being scheduled on the agenda.

With the debate on the issue bogging down on procedure, Sutherland openly expressed frustration.

"It's going to be a fun three years," Sutherland said at one point.

Coun. Raj Kahlon said he didn't expect the final meeting of the mandate to go as badly as it was and told his fellow council members that communications amongst the group weren't going well.

When Sutherland called on the group to vote, the only person who voted in favour of the motion aimed at slowing development in Brackendale was Lonsdale. The rest of the lawmakers voted against the motion.

The decision means two controversial developments at the end of Judd Road will continue to move ahead.jfrench@squamishchief.com

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