Over the past several months, staff at the District of Squamish has been working on several significant policy reviews and initiatives. Three of the most important are the Oceanfront sub-area plan, the trails master plan and the zoning bylaw review.
The first of these, the Oceanfront sub-area plan, came to council in draft form in July. This plan covers proposed land uses for all of the Oceanfront lands south of Vancouver Street.
It includes the SODC lands as well as lands owned by BC Rail Properties and Westmana Developments.
It is a significant step in the process of developing the Oceanfront and will form the basis for subsequent zoning applications.
It is expected to come before council as a bylaw in October with a goal of being adopted by the end of the year. As part of that process, there will be a public information meeting and public hearing.
The dates for these have not yet been set but are expected to be later in the fall.
The zoning bylaw update is a review of our present zoning bylaw, to clarify sections that have been shown in the past to be unclear, to bring our bylaw in line with changes in provincial legislation and to incorporate recent innovations in land use planning.
The zoning bylaw follows on the heels of the Official Community Plan and sets the direction and more of the detail for land use planning in the district. Public information meetings will likely be scheduled later in the fall with the goal of having the bylaw adopted in the early New Year.
The third initiative is the trails master plan. This will deal with policy related to trails in the District. It will be focused mostly on recreational trails.
Trails used for commuting and transportation purposes are being considered in the multi-modal transportation plan, also presently underway but some months away from finalizing.
The trails master plan is expected to come before council for comment in October and to be the subject of public information meetings and open house later in the year.
These are important policy initiatives and I encourage the public to attend the public meetings and to take part in the discussions and debate surrounding them.
These plans and bylaws are intended to serve the public, and the input of the public is a very valuable part of the process of creating and adopting them.
Dates for public meetings will be announced over the next several weeks. Watch for them and take part.
