Town of Osoyoos Council voted last Thursday to turn the environmentally-sensitive Pfingsttag Pond into a protected conservation area after listening to the concerns of neighbours who live near the pond during a public hearing two weeks ago. The pond is home to hundreds of species of fish, birds, waterfowl, plants and wildlife. The pond will be protected once construction begins on the new Richter Property subdivision. Council has officially applied to the Agricultural Land Commission to have more than three acres of land removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve to allow the new subdivision to proceed. (Keith Lacey Photo)
Town of Osoyoos council and staff have listened to the concerns of neighbours who live near the proposed Richter Property subdivision development as they moved one giant step closer to starting construction by formally applying to the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) to have more than three acres of land removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR).
At a special meeting of council last Thursday, council voted unanimously in favour of a plan to turn a popular pond that would surround the Richter Property development into a protected conservation area.
During a public hearing two weeks ago, longtime Osoyoos resident Isla Petreny-MacKenzie detailed how neighbours in the small Wren Place subdivision wanted the town to provide assurances that Pfingsttag Pond would be protected once construction begins on building 24 single-family homes and two duplexes.
The pond is home to dozens of species of fish, birds, amphibians and wild animals and she and her neighbours pleaded for council to protect the pond to ensure its natural beauty would be preserved and protected once construction began, said Petreny-MacKenzie.
The Richter Property Development would be phase I of a long-term plan to develop the Southeast Meadowlark development, which would see more than 300 single family homes, townhouses, row houses, condominiums and apartment units constructed over the next 15 to 20 years as the largest new subdivision built in Osoyoos over the past two decades.
The Southeast Meadowlark development would be built between the new fire hall on 74th Avenue heading north to a huge tract of land located behind the Osoyoos Baptist Church heading towards the Osoyoos Golf Club.
Alain Cunningham, the town’s director of planning and development services, said he took the concerns of neighbours at the recent public hearing very seriously and tried to address their key concerns with his latest report.
“As can be seen from the public hearing minutes, no opposition was received against the central concept of developing the Richter Property for small-lot residential subdivision with a subsidized affordable housing component,” said Cunningham. “Concerns were raised about additional traffic on Wren Place and access to Highway 97 and, in the case of one person, protecting Pfingsttag Pond and buffering of their home. Staff makes recommendations to council on these concerns in this section of the report.”
Staff recommended to council that as much street interconnectivity be promoted around the Richter Property as soon as possible, he said.
“By contrast, two presenters at the hearing, Isla Petreny-Mackenzie and Haley Bourne, prefer that the proposed subdivision road not connect to Wren Place and provide access out to Highway 97 for new residents,” said Cunningham.
Council’s intentions in the original 2007 Souteast Meadowlark Area Plan was to complete a north-south connector road from the new fire hall through the Richter subdivision to a proposed cul-de-sac at the south end of Wren Place, he said.
The town will continue to work with Ministry of Transportation officials to keep highway access to the owners of eight homes on Wren Place, he said.
“This road layout reflects the contemporary importance placed on promoting street network interconnectivity to spread traffic loads around the network and provide options for all incoming and outgoing emergency vehicles, as well as for exiting of private vehicles in case of fire or other emergencies,” he said. “At the time when our Southeast Meadowlark Plan and fire hall rezoning went through their respective public consultation process, there was no recorded comments concerning our road plans.”
As required by legislation, staff has referred the proposed Richter Property development rezoning to the Ministry of Transportation for comment, he said.
The same road plan was previously referred to the ministry during the fire hall rezoning process and though at the time they were predisposed to close the Wren Place highway access, staff were successful in keeping it open for secondary fire hall access in the event of the 74th Avenue/Highway 97 intersection being obstructed, he said.
“It is unlikely that the ministry would feel inclined to keep Wren Place access open just to serve its current eight residents and would insist on access via the internal connector road,” said Cunningham. “In staff’s opinion, most residents from the new subdivision would only use the Wren Place access on rare occasions when they wish to travel south on the highway or exit in an emergency. Instead, most will use the highway intersection at 76th Avenue, which in due time will likely be signalized making highway turns even more convenient.”
Closing the connector road at the south end of the Richter subdivision with a turnaround is not only undesirable from a street connectivity point of view, but would be technically difficult to fit into this sloping area of the site, he said.
“It may also likely place any future development of the Dhaliwal property in jeopardy from the Ministry of Transportation opposition. Instead, staff will review the potential benefits of installing a stop sign where the connector would joint into Wren Place.
Pfingsttag Pond covers more than four acres and occupies a central strategic location in the Southeast Meadlowlark development, said Cunningham.
Petreny-Mackenzie has long championed its ecological values and further urged its protection at the public hearing, he said.
“Our SE Meadowlark Plan highights the pond’s importance as an amenity for the whole area and calls for a public park to be acquired around as much of its surrounding edge as possible through the development process, though this is not part of the current Richter application,” he said. “The pond itself is located across private properties with the north end being owned by Mr. Dennis Moreira, who spoke to this at the public hearing. The south end is owned by the Dhaliwal family, and part of the east side is owned by the Martin family, who have two lots on Wren Place. All owners appear to be sound stewards of the pond.
Council accepted a staff recommendation to consider promoting the pond and its surrounding area as a conservation park in the town’s Parks and Trails Plan, which is currently under preparation, including protecting and enhancing its ecological values through careful design and limited public access. In the meantime, continued reliance will be placed on sound stewardship of the pond through local owners and neighbourhood oversight.
Petreny-Mackenzie also raised concerns about adequate buffering for her family home, so staff and designers have taken advantage of the alignment of a sewer easement and topographical decline to maintain a 20 metre separation distance between her family’s residence and the nearest subdivision house.
The town will also take on its ongoing responsibilities for adding trees and shrubs into what will be private property, he said.
Cunningham told council he’s extremely confident the land commission will approve the application to have the Richter Property removed from the ALR.
“We will complete our formal application for excluding the Richter Property and await ministry response before council consideration of the final bylaw adoption, he said.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
