After two rounds before council and controversy both offline and online, the Garibaldi Springs proposal on the former golf course lands passed third reading at council on Tuesday night.
Approval to rezone the property 鈥� allowing for residential construction on four parcels in exchange for habitat restoration, trails and other amenities 鈥� passed in a dramatic 4 to 3 vote.
Councillors Jason Blackman-Wulff, Susan Chapelle and Peter Kent voted against moving it forward, while Councillors Karen Elliott, Ted Prior, Doug Race, and Mayor Patricia Heintzman supported it.
鈥淭his has been a challenging application for council and staff. It鈥檚 come a long way,鈥� said Heintzman, referencing the bitter back-and-forth over the project since it was first proposed in January.
鈥淚ronically I think people supporting this project are doing it for environmental reasons, and people against the project are doing it for environmental reasons,鈥� said Heintzman. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 the irony of all this. I think this is actually a legacy project for the community.鈥�
Debate raged both online and at public hearings over whether the proposal would improve or hamper the existing habitat. Concerns were also raised about nearby views and traffic. Part of the proposal includes space for a daycare and contributions to affordable housing.
Extensive arguments for and against the development were heard at a public hearing on Sept. 6 and reported on in detail in a previous article by The 麻豆社国产.
On Tuesday night the high stakes debate continued between councillors 鈥� reaching the point where Blackman-Wulff compared the area to Stanley Park. He said he was disappointed by the 鈥渓ack of backbone鈥� on council and told Elliott she needed to 鈥渄evelop a thick skin鈥� if his comments bothered her.
For most councillors, votes on Tuesday night came down to environmental protection 鈥� but as Heintzman pointed out, there were two very distinct points of view on how to achieve that goal.
Chapelle and Kent argued that nature was already overtaking the area.
鈥淗umans don鈥檛 have to be in every ecological habitat, it鈥檚 not our right,鈥� argued Chapelle. 鈥淢aybe one day we鈥檒l come to a time that we need to rezone green space, but there are plenty of brownfields that we can develop before then.鈥�
Chapelle said she had doubts that federal agencies would be able to properly oversee the restoration of the land.
But the majority vote said the agreement with Polygon Homes 鈥� which will see around 80 per cent of the land set aside as a publicly-owned ecological reserve, trails, and parkland 鈥� was the best option to repair the damage done by the golf course.
Coun. Prior said what he鈥檇 read from 鈥渜ualified environmental people鈥� didn鈥檛 match the discussion around the table.
Coun. Race agreed, noting that the former golf-course was non-ideal habitat. He said he saw the site as 鈥渁lmost a brownfield鈥� after the environmental devastation of a golf course.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think a marquee piece of land should be one that could be sold to an offshore developer and have a fence go up, that does not make sense to me,鈥� said Elliott. 鈥淚t puts it back into public hands, which is exactly where it should be.鈥�
The 48.3 acres of land, which is currently designated as green space, will now likely be rezoned to allow for residential construction of 310 units on 21 per cent of the land.
While the zoning change is not formally complete until council passes final adoption, it is unusual for such a vote to conflict with third reading.
Final approval will be followed by the dedication of public land, an environmental development permit, site alteration permit and phase one of development.
