A request from the Britannia Oceanfront Development Corp. to allow a drive-through restaurant and gas bar as permitted uses in the Britannia Beach townsite met with concerns and opposition from several directors of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) at Monday's (April 26) board meeting.
The BODC proponents have put forward plans for a "vibrant, pedestrian-oriented village" on the site, featuring "front porches, historic-style streetlamps and pedestrian promenades," as described in an SLRD staff report from strategy planner Kim Needham.
Needham noted that the drive-through restaurant and accessory gasoline bar uses were "purposefully omitted" from the site's initial rezoning bylaws by SLRD staff, believing them to conflict with a pedestrian-friendly village.
But the BODC developers have indicated in general "the success of their development scheme is highly dependent on attracting a tenant with national recognition, and they believe this calibre of tenant will only be attracted to the site if there is potential for drive-through use," Needham wrote.
Needham's report suggested the pitch for additional uses should go to a public hearing to assess community feelings. She wrote that SLRD staff are generally against drive-through uses due to the "non-pedestrian mentality," but they are "open to the economic realities of development."
Design considerations could be covered in the development permit process, she added.
"The overall BODC project is considered to be a benefit to the Britannia Beach community and to the SLRD as a whole. This was demonstrated by the general support for the project at the original public hearing," Needham wrote.
Squamish councillors Patricia Heintzman and Doug Race said they are generally opposed to drive-through restaurants. Heintzman said she wishes there were fewer in Squamish - "Hopefully in the future we can move in that direction," she said - and she would not like to see more spread down the corridor.
"To me, this is not the way we want to proceed," Race said.
Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed said he thinks reconsidering the zoning given for the development "sets us up for failure," and he questioned how a drive-through restaurant could fit with a pedestrian-friendly community.
He said he would like to see more work done on the issue, and would need to see stronger arguments to deviate from the initial plans.
Electoral Area D Director John Turner suggested a different look, asking whether Britannia might need restaurants and drive-throughs to create a full village and draw people and opportunities into the community.
He said he would support moving forward with the application to add the drive-through and gar bar uses to go to a public hearing and see what the people in Britannia would want.
Turner and Lillooet Mayor Dennis Bontron voted for the motion to rescind the previously established zoning bylaws, but with other directors opposed, the issue failed.
Bass Coast Project
Organizers with the Bass Coast Project music festival, scheduled to return to the Upper Squamish Valley in July, are applying to the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) to seek approval for an annual four-day festival for the next four years.
The event received approval for its 2009 debut on a 72-hectare site, according to an SLRD staff report. The report said about 45 hectares of the property are within the ALR, and "a limited number of festival activities" are scheduled to occur on those lands - all of the festival events will be held on lands outside the ALR - but the ALC's nod is still needed.
"If approved, the ongoing approval for an annual festival will allow the festival organizers to operate with a greater degree of certainty for their event, which will allow for better planning and will mean less financial hardship," the report said.
After attracting 450 participants in the first year, organizers are forecasting the festival could draw 600 attendees this year, and could grow to a maximum of 2,000 in 2013, the SLRD report said. However, it adds, the projection for 2009 was 1,500 participants, and future attendance figures could be well below the forecasts.
"Staff are not aware of any complaints or concerns related to the 2009 event," the report stated.
Noise and disruptions from festivals drew complaints from some Upper Squamish Valley residents last June, before the Bass Coast event ran. But SLRD chief administrative officer Paul Edgington said the Bass Coast Project organizers worked well with the regional district last year to plan their event.
"They did an excellent job of addressing all the issues," Edgington said. He expects them to make the necessary application for a special events permit if it looks like this year's festival will attract more than 500 people.
The board voted to forward the application to the ALC with a recommendation of support, and a call for a new application should the festival change in the future from the current proposed scope.
