Residents of North Yards are fighting to keep their neighbourhood zoned residential.
They've started an online petition at www.savenorthyards.com with the goal of removing the area's properties from the industrial rezoning process, and maintain it as a residential neighbourhood.
Jim Whittaker, resident of North Yards off Government Road, said the area is an old established neighbourhood. Its first residents were workers at the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, later named BC Rail.
Whittaker said that in 2004, due to an oversight, the District of Squamish drafted a bylaw to rezone North Yards into Industrial Business, which included four well-established homes. Now years later, one retired homeowner has sold her property at 39660 Government Road to a potential developer.
"The purchaser of the retired landowner's property is proposing a large, three-storey warehouse complex on the land next to ours. It faces our property, with no buffer," said Whittaker.
Whittaker said the fight to keep the properties residential has been long and exhaustive. In December 2006, council voted, by a narrow margin, not to remove North Yards from the industrial rezoning process. Whittaker said the district informed residents that no steps would be taken to actually change the zoning unless someone applied for such change.
"Further, council advised no changes would be made without further discussions with ourselves. This has not happened. Sometime since 2006, without our knowledge, District of Squamish has amended the proposed Industrial Business [I-8] designation to Industrial 1, a much heavier Industrial category," Whittaker said.
In the past Whittaker said council has reserved a buffer zone between all residential and industrial developments. He said this proposal has no buffer.
"The main frontage, including doors and parking, face our property. We will be facing several types of pollution such as security lights - we will have no darkness, noise, doors, voices, vehicles, air-engine, cigarette smoke," he said.
The solution residents are proposing is to make Pioneer Way the northern industrial boundary, residential.
"We have lived here for 39 years. When they redrew the Official Community Plan [OCP] a few years ago, the planner decided this should actively be pursued as industrial," Whittaker said.
If the neighbourhood was zoned industrial, Whittaker said his house is a non-conforming use, which represents a problem when it comes time to sell.
"Who is going to buy non-conforming land?" Whittaker said. "The new development is massive and we don't even have the luxury of a buffer. Under the zoning, they could be allowed to do a 24-hour restaurant."
Whittaker said most North yards residents are old age pensioners who simply cannot be moved.
"We don't want to get chased out of Squamish but we would not be able to tolerate this," Whittaker said.
Whittaker said residents are not attempting to prevent development of the property. He said neighbours would like to see any future development slated as residential in keeping with the character of the neighbourhood.
Mayor Greg Gardner said the North Yards land has been zoned industrial since 1998, when he was not on council. Gardner also said the rezoning process is underway for the new development next to the Whittaker's house and that any comments from the public will be taken into account.
"Comments will be taken into account during the public hearing. The land in question has been identified as industrial since 1998 under the OCP," Gardner said."
Gardner also said that he is not aware of any plans to rezone the houses to industrial.
"I wasn't on council in 1998 but the petition will be considered," Gardner said. "Community comment will be taken into account and comment from close neighbours will be looked at quite closely."
