A plan to build 20 RV sites on Quadra Island will not be moving forward after a well-attended public hearing late last year.
The rezoning bylaws associated with the Quadra Links campground development project were on the Strathcona Regional District board meeting agenda on Jan. 11. The project was to build a 20-unit RV park on the existing Quadra Island golf course.
There were hundreds of public submissions either during the public hearing or in other public hearings about this project which were compiled into a 784-page document. Discovery Islands Mainland Inlets director Robyn Mawhinney said that the application “has been of significant interest to many islanders. There were over 700 pages of documents which included hundreds of submissions. I read every one.”
While there were some public hearing attendees who spoke favourably about the project, Mawhinney said it was the majority of submissions that were opposed to the project that won her over.
“Themes from hundreds of submissions made clear that some islanders value golfing as a recreational activity, while many more have concerns for Quadra’s infrastructure and its ability to support more tourism from oversized vehicles,” she said.
Comments from members of the public touched on things like the island’s narrow roads, pressure on the ferries, and concerns about water availability.
“Quadra Links did consider public input and made changes to their original application, and I have no doubt that (they) would be a good neighbour,” Mawhinney said. “In this case, Quadra (Island)’s appetite for additional summer RV traffic and balancing the needs of year-round residents with summer tourism outweighs the good neighbour argument.”
The four electoral area directors were able to vote on this issue, since it applied specifically to electoral areas. The vote was unanimously against proceeding further with the project.
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marc.kitteringham@campbellrivermirror.com
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