Britannia Beach residents have been given the opportunity to clearly voice their views on a contentious project proposal now that the Squamish Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) has put off its rezoning decision, says Area D Director John Turner.During the SLRD meeting Monday (Feb. 18), board members rejected the staff recommendation to oppose the application to rezone from residential to institutional, deciding instead that more time was needed to truly gage the will of the residents. That's because many opposed to the proposed facility have done so solely for its connection to the Catholic prelature Opus Dei, said Turner.Opus Dei came to prominence in its depiction as a dangerous cult in the controversial bestselling novel by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, which was turned into a Hollywood blockbuster."There was quite a movement that was based on the fact that the proponent had Opus Dei connections," said Turner. "And at the public hearing I made it perfectly clear that any religious comments that came out over what was really a land zoning decision would be considered out of order. Coming out of that, then we were unsure - they didn't want to say it was Opus Dei, so they said there was too much traffic in the plan?"Staff made the recommendation due to "strong desire at the public hearing to uphold the original vision of the OCP [official community plan] to see the subject property retained for residential development," according to the SLRD meeting agenda.But Turner also said many opponents signed a petition before one last public hearing shed new light on certain issues that could have swayed their decision. The petition is also difficult to verify without contacting every resident on the list of approximately 135 names, he said."The end result is I think there was a feeling by staff in the discussion and certainly there was feeling by me that we'd gotten to this point maybe too fast without sufficient opportunity to dialogue," said Turner. "So rather than just saying, 'Well look, we think the community is not in favour of this thing,' we thought everybody would benefit from a little bit more dialogue." He added that if further public consultation shows residents do indeed want to retain the residential status, the board's decision will reflect their will. With the board decision made, Turners is now in a position to hear from proponents and residents, and is open to changing opinions."One thing you can see is there area few people in the community that you can talk forever and they'll still be against the project. But there are others that felt they just didn't have enough information. If they get that information and if that information that they do get helps them to say 'Well, no I don't think this is a bad thing,' then there's that side of it as well."
