By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle
Oliver is attempting to revive an old plan to develop the northwest side of Tuc-el-nuit Lake, but approval from the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) is needed.
The proposal’s main plan is over 20 years old, and includes developing a park near the waterfront, a multi-unit housing development behind that, and a road which would act as a barrier separating these developments from the agricultural lands currently there.
The proposed land for these developments is owned by three different owners.
When Oliver experienced a major boundary expansion in 1990, which brought in the Tuc-el-nuit and Rockcliffe neighbourhoods, this area was never developed.
In 1999, the ALC approved most components of the Tuc-el-nuit Neighbourhood Plan, but for this area the ALC required the development of a “major street”.
The town now wants to revisit this decision by the ALC because they have a new proposal that changes how the road would go through the land, and how much Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) land is needed for the road.
This road would be north of Zinfandel Ave. and connect Meadows Drive to Bulrush Road. The new proposal would see the road go in between the park and the housing development.
“There are two advantages to that, one is that it provides on-street parking for our future public park with direct access . . . and finally, on the north side, it makes for a much more direct connection in the future to Bulrush Road,” Tom Szalay, Interim Director of Development Services explained.
“The net effect is we would be asking for less land to come out of the ALR under this option, and still accomplish the road improvements we are looking for.”
Szalay noted that they worked on redesigning the road to make it safer and take less land out of the land reserve.
He noted for example, “You can see where it was proposed to cut through a fairly large chunk of the property on what is now the Red Horses Winery and Vineyard.”
The old approved design, what is labeled 87th street is now Meadows Drive. The road that would be connecting to “Scott Road” is now Bulrush Road.
Town of Oliver image
One possible drawback to the application, which Szalay explained to council, was that the ALC might express concerns about the road, which is now in the middle of the proposed park and housing development no longer sets up a natural buffer between the adjacent farms and the housing development.
Without a natural buffer, such as the road, the property line of the houses would be directly adjacent to the farms.
But Szalay did note that there are numerous things that can be done to counteract this such as planting trees, or having a required set back on the properties, among other options.
Another important part of the changed proposal is that it will allow for the future development to be undertaken in phases as the individual landowners become ready to move forward.
Part of the road construction would include a “temporary cul-de-sac bulb” at the north end of lot one. This would be developed in advance of the other properties in order to provide a turnaround point so that development could go in phases.
Brad Elenko, planning manager for McElhanney, the Town of Oliver and the three property owners have all been in discussions to move forward with the project.
One property owner, it was noted in the council discussion, is more motivated to get started right away, while the other is happy for there to be plans in place for when that time comes.
In order for this development to go any further, the ALC would need to reconsider their 1999 block application decision, to take into account these new road alignments and land use areas that have been modified from the original concepts and approve them.
If consent were to be given by the ALC, there would then have to be Official Community Plan (OCP) and Zoning Bylaw amendment application requests brought forward in order to reflect the current planning proposals.
This would also need to be followed by a subdivision application to address new lot boundaries and servicing details before any development takes place.
