An Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw amendment application at Pemberton’s municipal hall could add a new 35-lot subdivision south of Den Duyf Park—but first the Village wants to hear from residents.
At its Dec. 13 meeting, Pemberton council heard a report on the development, dubbed Parkside, and the “early and ongoing” consultation the Village of Pemberton (VOP) plans to undertake with the community prior to breaking ground.
The subject property is located at 7362 Pemberton Farm Road East, south of the Den Duyf Park recreation site and north of the existing Pemberton Plateau neighbourhood. If successful, it could lead to dozens of new homes going up.
Parkside, if built in its conceived form, would encompass 34 small residential lots ranging from 300 to 956 square metres in size (which would be classified as strata housing).The 35th lot would become a commercial property meant for neighbourhood-scale commercial uses. While the commercial lot is meant to be significantly larger than the residential ones, an exact size has not yet been determined.
The development proposal was submitted by Grant Gillies and Riverside (Pemberton) Nominee Ltd.
The amendment to Pemberton’s Official Community Plan (OCP) and Zoning Bylaw is required to allow development of the site for residential and commercial uses.
Planner Colin Brown, who gave the presentation to mayor and council, emphasized that the development application itself is not yet ready, and thus many details about Parkside are still taking shape. Much more information will become available when the VOP hears the actual application at a future date.
“The real purpose of this report is to ensure that the Village … establishes its consultation obligations [regarding a zoning amendment],” said Brown.
A VOP bylaw allows council members to require that real estate developers organize public information meetings about their proposals. Gillies and Riverside had already held such a meeting on Nov. 1, which was attended by about 35 individuals. However, the meeting conflicted with the inaugural VOP council session that night, and took place at Sunstone Golf Course, which has limited accessibility for those without vehicles.
Therefore, Brown recommended that council require an additional information meeting be held at a more accessible venue, and that such a meeting be more widely advertised to the public. Elected officials supported the recommendation.
Brown’s report comes two weeks after another council presentation illustrated the dramatic population growth that Pemberton has experienced over the last five years.
The property in question is known as a “brownfield site”: an area that has been previously used as a quarry, resulting in significant impact to the surrounding landscape, and with no opportunity to restore the land to a natural state. This is in contrast with a “greenfield site”, which refers to a relatively untouched natural area. Current zoning regulations—which are a holdover from the property’s past as a quarry—only allow it to be used for forestry and resource extraction purposes.
In response to questions from Pemberton resident Niki Vankerk, Mayor Mike Richman explained that the area was once part of the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) but was excluded from that designation in 2013. Brown added that the property is considered part of the Hillside Special Planning Area, even though it is not technically on a hill.
