More events with more people could be held at Cheekye Ranch after it was granted second reading for a rezoning application.
However, public safety was a sticking point at the council meeting, where politicians wondered if enough safety measures were in place for the area, which is in a flood zone.
Bryan Daly, development and subdivision co-ordinator with the District, said that one of the safety measures proposed during events would be to have a person watching outside the event boundaries for an incoming flood or landslide.
That person would then alert organizers, and, in turn, they'd tell partygoers to get to a safe zone.
Mayor Karen Elliott said a better warning system needed to be in place, such as a siren, perhaps.
It'd be very hard to hear one person given that much of the events in the ranch are loud music concerts, she noted.
She wondered if flood safety measures such as signage and a siren might be potential community amenity contributions, but stopped short of making any motions that would make this a condition of the application.
Cheekye has been hosting special events under a temporary use permit it received from the District in 2015.
Rezoning the area would allow the Ranch to host events like Blessed Coast in perpetuity. Furthermore, this would extend or remove previous caps on how many special events or people could be in the area.
The rezoning application is unique in that there is no development being proposed. Instead, it will that will formalize what's been going on at the site since the temporary use permit was granted in 2015.
As a result, it will turn the split-zoned resource and tourist commercial land into a comprehensive development zone.
All on council except for Coun. Chris Pettingill voted in favour of giving the application second reading. It's now up for public hearing.
Pettingill noted that having potentially more events and more people in the area increases the chance of risk, should a disaster happen.
Locals can add their feedback on the matter during the hearing, scheduled for Feb. 12 at 6 p.m.
**Council cuts are pieces of news arising out of recent District of Squamish council meetings.
