North Cowichan council voted in favour of proceeding with processing an application to expand the municipality’s urban-containment boundary to include the more than 30 acres of property near the new Cowichan District Hospital where the comprehensive West Vista Terrace project is planned.
Council voted at its meeting on June 18 to allow the project to proceed to the next steps in the development application process.
The application for the property to be placed in the UCB is expected to come back to council at a future meeting for further consideration before a public hearing on the issue is held.
The proposed project includes the construction of 700 residential units, retail and commercial spaces and a 95-room hotel on the property located on the north side of Herd Road, that was just outside the UCB which had ended on the south side of Herd Road before council's vote.
Staff had recommended that council deny the application mainly because the project’s proponents, the Mill Bay-based West Vista development company, declined to provide a financial-impact assessment intended to clarify the fiscal implications of the project to North Cowichan.
The developer advised North Cowichan that they do not agree that an FIA should be a requirement for the OCP application and requested that it be deferred. In a letter, spokesman Luke Mari suggested that now isn’t the appropriate time for an FIA on the project.
“We’ve consulted with three separate financial impact assessment firms, and all of them concluded that there isn’t currently enough information to produce an accurate and meaningful report,” he said.
“Once the OCP amendment is resolved, we’ll be in a much better position to submit comprehensive reports as part of a fully developed and clearly understood rezoning application.”
In a staff report, project planner Christina Hovey said the proponents have already indicated that the development would provide North Cowichan with $64.5 million in community-amenity contributions and development-cost charges, and result in $67 million in tax revenues over a 25-year period.
“However, these projections do not account for the costs incurred by North Cowichan associated with providing services to the development,” she said. “Furthermore, there is no background available regarding the assumptions and analysis that led to the numbers as presented.”
Coun. Chris Istace asked why such an economic analysis is required and Mayor Rob Douglas replied that last year, council adopted a bylaw granting staff the authority to require applicants for land development to provide financial and other reports, particularly in applications of this scale when there are significant implications for North Cowichan.
He said West Vista did provide figures of economic benefits to the municipality, but suggested that an objective analysis is needed to determine if those numbers are accurate, as well as the costs of the development to the municipality.
Coun. Bruce Findlay said an FIA is common at times, “but when it’s way further on down the road on a development like this.”
He recommended allowing the property into the UCB instead of holding up the project “for a FIA on something that’s still way up technically in the clouds.
“Perhaps we can add this in when they go for their development application,” Findlay said.
Douglas said if council is not prepared to ask for the information for a development of this scale, when would it be?
He said the developer presented figures of what the city will gain, but staff have pointed out that these projections don’t account for the costs incurred by North Cowichan in relation to providing services for the development.
“As well, in the information that was provided as part of the information package, there was no background regarding the assumptions and analysis that led to the numbers as presented,” Douglas said. “Should we not verify these figures before making such a significant decision?"
The vote to not require a financial analysis was 5-1, with only Douglas opposed.
