A rezoning bylaw that will terminate the Land Use Contract (LUC) governing the Bayshores area is headed for adoption after council gave it third reading on Sept. 15.
A public hearing held on June 23 resulted in 14 public submissions, all relating to tourist accommodation use and the ownership structure in The Seasons property at 2561 Tricouni Pl.
While many owners wish to continue renting to tourists once the LUC is terminated, RMOW staff confirmed that tourist accommodation is not actually permitted in the Bayshores LUC, said senior planner Courtney Beaubien, in a presentation to council.
“We’ve had a letter from their solicitor, and there were many [people] that made representations at the public hearing—are we open in any way to a legal challenge?” asked Councillor Ralph Forsyth.
While Beaubien said she couldn’t comment specifically about that, the proposed RM 70 zoning “is maintaining the status quo under the existing Bayshores LUC.”
In May of 2014, the Local Government Act was amended to automatically terminate all LUCs on June 30, 2024—which means municipalities across B.C. must have new zoning in place for these areas before June 30, 2022.
When the legislation was changed, there were eight LUCs in the Resort Municipality of Whistler, which affected more than 3,000 owners in 60 different strata corporations and 31 fee simple lots.
The RMOW has been working its way through them one by one since 2016 (Bayshores being the fourth).
While rezoning the lands before the LUCs terminate is a necessity, “if a few of the units decided that they wanted to apply for a rezoning to allow for tourist accommodation, they could apply for a rezoning and go through the regular process at the discretion of the council of the day,” pointed out Coun. Jen Ford.
Council opted to give the bylaw third reading without revision at staff’s recommendation
