Minutes of General Meeting
April 19, 2006
Parksville Community Centre
12 noon
In Attendance: Bruce Cownden, Chair Helen Sims
Michelle Jones James Lacroix
Manley LaFoy Egon Kuhn
Caroline Grover Bob Dean
Joanna Smith Tait Art Cowie
Dan Jack Rob Adams
Mark Flinta
Marilyn Hayden, Recording Secretary
Guest Speakers: Councillor Wendy Maurer, Town of Qualicum Beach
Councillor Charles Robinson, City of Parksville
Bruce Cownden called the meeting to order at 12:10 P.M.
Guest Presentations:
Councillor Charles Robinson, City of Parksville
· Main initiative is to improve Parksville and encourage tourism.
o Most businesses support the downtown revitalization program.
o Mayor has set up a Citizen’s Advisory Committee with 7-9 members from the community.
o Attainable housing, encouraging young people to stay in the community.
o Community Park Master plan.
o Parks and Open Space Master plan.
o The Beach Club phase II is up for approval by Council.
o A consensus was reached last week on the Parksville Beach Motel development and should be going ahead.
o Canadian Tire store moving forward.
o 2 – 70 unit apartments and 1 – 140 unit assisted living complex have been approved for the property adjacent to the community centre.
o Arrowsmith Lodge property is being turned into an assisted living complex.
o Director of Planning senses that development is slowing down in the city.
o Ring Road on track as planned.
Questions
· What incentives are in place for attainable housing? Charles Robinson referred to Caroline Grover to answer the question.
o No provincial legislation in place in the community charter for incentives. A report is going to council after 4 months of research showing that 200 units are needed in Parksville for residents 20-29 years of age with the ability to pay rent between $450 - $850/mo.
Councillor Wendy Maurer, Town of Qualicum Beach
· Resolutions passed at AVICC last week to go forward to UBCM:
o Cash-In-Lieu of Parkland
o Flood Plain Bylaw Fee
o On-site Sewage Disposal Regulations
o Funding Attainable Housing In The Province of BC
(Contact Marilyn if you would like a copy of the resolutions for details)
· The town received the ODCA letter re DCC review and will request comments from the ODCA.
· Town is looking forward to participating in research by OTA and EDO as there is not much undeveloped land in Qualicum Beach for tourism development. Wendy presented a coloured map representing land use.
· A traffic flow and parking study will be undertaken this year.
· New development “Villa Rosa” is a new downtown development on second Ave. It will be commercial on the main floor with residential on the second and third floors that will surround a garden courtyard in the centre.
· The town has stated that they are open to preliminary discussions with developers on a conceptual level. Several developers have brought their projects up for discussion.
Questions:
· Regarding the “Cash-In-Lieu of Parkland” resolution at the AVICC. Did the resolution take into consideration that the cost of land and the cost of infrastructure come off the end value of the land?
o Wendy will follow up with the purveyor of the motion to clarify and will submit to Marilyn.
o ODCA may want to submit comments to this motion to the AVICC.