One of the most significant rezoning applications Pemberton has seen in about 20 years came before the Village of Pemberton Council on Tuesday (Sept. 16) for the early stages of its rezoning process.

The application was prompted by the proposal from BCR Properties and Signal Hill Homes for a sizeable new mixed-use development on the Wye lands, the Mill site and the Phare property, comprising approximately 32 acres bounded by Pemberton Creek, the Village Hall and the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) offices, Signal Hill Elementary School and Highway 99.

A staff report from VOP Planning Consultant Michael Rosen said the new neighbourhood would include 382 residential units — including 46 single-family homes, 73 townhouses, 229 apartment condominiums including 28 units for seniors and 34 live-work units — plus an 80-room hotel, 48,700 square feet of commercial space, seven acres of park space, approximately five kilometres of trails and an internal road system.

The proponents’ application, signed by Signal Hill Homes partner Bruce van Mook, said the proposal matches the goals in the Village’s Official Community Plan (OCP).

“Our vision is to create a complete community within and a part of the existing Village fabric, comprised of a wide range of housing types for people for all stages of life, all incomes, with accessible places for work, convenient shopping and amenities,” the proposal states. “It will over time become a model of sustainable living.”

Currently, the properties involved have three different commercial zoning classifications and two land-use designations. According to Rosen’s report, Pemberton’s OCP clearly “did not contemplate the scale and type of development that is being proposed.”

That means the OCP will have to be amended to allow for the new neighbourhood, Rosen’s report said, and the entire site will have to be rezoned.

Rosen told Council “this is the most significant rezoning application” he’s seen in his approximately 20 years of working with the Village, which is why the early-stage report came to Council on Tuesday.

The developers’ vision is “very much supported by the planning department,” Rosen told Council, as it follows Smart Growth principles and the guidelines laid out in the SLRD’s Regional Growth Strategy, and promotes sustainability initiatives.

Council voted to forward the rezoning application to local governments and groups for comment, and to have staff write a technical report about the project.

Rosen’s report also commended the dialogue with the community initiated by the proponents. According to the rezoning application, 42 residents attended a June 19 open house about the project, with eight filling out written comment sheets. The comments lauded the central location, mixed-use planning, single-family homes and seniors housing, while raising concerns about the density and road access and calling for more recreational facilities and park space.

Pemberton first to approve RGS

Pemberton became the first member municipality to accept the SLRD’s Regional Growth Strategy (RGS), the long-gestating planning document that sets out a framework for sustainable development within the region.

Rosen told Council a minor amendment formula has been included to make the process for incorporating so-called minor changes to the RGS less cumbersome, unlike the provincially legislated overall amendment formula for major changes that has raised some concerns.

Mayor Jordan Sturdy and Councillor David MacKenzie raised questions about the possible grey area surrounding the definition of major and minor changes, but neither felt that should cause officials to reject the RGS at this point.

With the RGS now revised to include changes suggested by Council in May, pertaining to the labelling for growth in areas around Rutherford and the Pemberton Airport, Council voted unanimously to accept the RGS.

That makes Pemberton the first member municipality within the SLRD to accept the document, and the third overall among the governments that need to approve it.

Potato vodka permit issued

Council approved a development permit for Tyler Schramm and the Pemberton Distillery, which Schramm said will produce organic potato vodka in a local, environmentally sound venture.

With a few conditions regarding landscaping, engineering and lighting, the permit allows for the construction of a 4,000-square-foot one-storey steel building at 1954 Venture Place in Pemberton’s Industrial Park. Schramm told Council he wants the facility “to be as green as I can possibly make it,” and he’s hoping to move ahead quickly with the project as he’s already twice had to delay the delivery of the still equipment ordered from Germany.

The business is a “100 per cent family venture,” Schramm said.

Festival supported

Prompted by Sturdy in his mayor’s report, Council also passed a resolution supporting Live Nation in its pursuit of hosting the Pemberton Festival in Pemberton again in the future.

The motion came following a well-attended public feedback meeting about the 40,000-person event that featured mainly positive comments (see the Pemberton Question cover story for more details).

In a delegation to Council, RCMP Insp. Norm McPhail said he was happy with the way things went at the festival, with the crowd mostly well behaved and fewer arrests than expected.

“The Pemberton music festival was highly successful, in our estimation,” he said. The overall cost of the policing, which will be paid by the promoter, will likely total about $550,000, he said.