A proposal to put four homes with coach houses on “a difficult property” on North Bluff Road will go to the public in September, following a vote by White Rock council that, for one politician, hinged on ensuring affected residents would be able to attend.
Coun. Helen Fathers told council last week that she would only support directing staff to schedule the hearing for the project at 14022 and 14034 North Bluff Rd. if the date was after the summer, as many interested in speaking to it are on holiday.
The application proposes to rezone the lots to a commercial development (CD) zone with an aim of reducing the mass of the buildings, limiting the heights and increasing the front-yard setbacks.
Both lots are currently zoned one-unit residential, as a result of a change made in the Official Community Plan last month.
At that time, and as a result of concerns from residents, council asked staff to work with the applicant to come up with a proposal for three lots.
Density was among the worries of residents.
Susie Charette said the project would destroy important green space, decrease parking and “may resemble a mini-monster-house project.”
Approving it would be “an anti-family move in a family neighbourhood,” she said.
Couns. Grant Meyer, Larry Robinson and Louise Hutchinson agreed the area is better-suited to three lots.
“We’re really not hearing that there’s a lot of public acceptance for this,” Robinson said.
Hutchinson noted setbacks are an important source of green space, and said she is “not in favour anywhere… of increasing footprints and decreasing front-yard setbacks.”
Last week, director of development services Paul Stanton noted that in an adjacent duplex, each unit has a registered secondary suite and therefore, the same number of total units as now proposed for the lots in question.
He described the subject site as “a difficult property” for which the proponents “could not make the economics (of a three-lot project) work.”
He noted the revised proposal now includes a six-metre front-yard setback. As well, that the crawl space for the homes has been reduced to inhibit its conversion to livable space.
Council voted unanimously to move the bylaw forward to a new public hearing.