Three months after the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) board turned down a request from the Britannia Oceanfront Development Corporation to allow a drive-through component for one restaurant and small gas bar in their planned revitalization of the Britannia Beach commercial area, community members are speaking up .
At Monday's (July 26) regular meeting, the SLRD directors heard from two residents asking them to give the development a chance by allowing the additional uses, believing that there is widespread support in the community for the idea, and that people want to see growth and business development in Britannia with the BODC plans.
The board also heard from two other residents imploring them to stay the course on the plan and uses initially conceived through extensive community consultation for the BODC development plan, and prevent marring of the Britannia character.
The delegations came alongside a hefty package of letters and lengthy petition supporting the idea of allowing the two uses in the BODC plans for the commercial area, along with other missives opposing the idea and a train of impassioned e-mail correspondence between residents debating the issue earlier this summer.
William Baker, project coordinator for the BODC, said the developers are simply trying to find the best ways to make the proposal work. He asked the board to amend the necessary bylaws to allow the gas bar and a drive-through for one food outlet in order to take that idea back to the community and work with all parties to alleviate concerns.
He said the messages the developers were getting from businesses in the wake of the economic downturn led them to look carefully at their financial plan. He added that businesses the developers have approached aren't willing to invest under the current conditions of the bylaws, which are at third reading.
"We want to have sufficient economic substance to make this all work the first time," Baker told the board, later adding, "The changes we're asking for are critical to the proposed development."
Lynne Cook, proprietor of Mountain Woman Take Out and manager of the Britannia Beach Store, said Monday that she was concerned about the board not allowing the community to have a voice on this issue, and she felt a "majority support these changes." Cook said local residents want to see the development of Britannia's lower lands begin, and the drive-through and gas bar are small parts of the plan for the site.
"We need to give this a chance," she said, feeling there are significant financial challenges to the project and fearing that otherwise five to 10 years will pass and the site will still be empty.
Cook added that one of the more frequently asked questions for Britannia is where to find the next gas station. She said the gas bar and amenities in the development would serve Howe Sound East residents and visitors alike.
But Britannia resident Jane Iverson told the board she felt the pedestrian-oriented artisan village was the proposal supported a few years ago, with no mention of chain restaurants, drive-throughs or gas bars, and she feels the added uses stand in opposition to Smart Growth principles.
"This type of development proposal would compromise our community vision environmentally, economically and aesthetically and could prove to be nothing more than a quick cash grab off the highway of little benefit to this community," Iverson said in a letter to the board that she read at Monday's meeting.
And Ralph Fulber told the board he feels the added uses involve a "change of mind" on the part of the proponents after all involved had supported the pedestrian-oriented village concept after "decades of public discourse."
"I thought this was a done deal," he said, adding that he feels he's hearing "fearmongering" in the community over concerns of losing the jobs involved.
John Ross, president of the Britannia Beach Community Association, said he personally is in favour of the added uses and feels there's "widespread favourability within the (association) to have these changes made, to get on with the development." He too asked the board to listen to what the Britannia community members have to say.
He said the planned artisan village would still go ahead, and Britannia needs the development to augment the taxation base to support services and infrastructure.
Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed responded to Ross by saying the board members believed they were listening to the community, after the multi-year consultation process that backed the BODC plan.
"I thought that the decision we took was actually in response to the opinions of the community," Melamed said, adding that the requested changes feel like "kind of an arbitrary left turn that might be a knee-jerk reaction" to what could be a short-term situation.
Ross said he doesn't think the two new uses change the whole scope of the plan, asking the board to look at the past record of the developers. Melamed said he sees it "as a bigger change than you do," so he was trying to wrap his head around what to do with the multi-year community engagement process.
The board voted to suspend consideration of the bylaws and refer them back to staff to work with the proponents and the community, including a public meeting, in order to report back to the board within three months.
