A 29-unit townhouse development proposed for Dentville has caused community concern over increased density and traffic issues.
In a bid to address some of the worries, the District of Squamish held a drop-in open house on Jan. 30 at Howe Sound Secondary to answer questions surrounding the rezoning application for 38779 and 38795 Britannia Ave.
District community development planner Aja Philip told The Squamish Chief that the meeting was scheduled after the rezoning application was given its first reading by council in October 2024.
“Council gave it one reading with the feedback that they wanted to see more engagement done with the neighbourhood,” Philip said.
“They felt dissatisfied with the level of engagement that was done.”
She noted that the proposed development would create “fairly significant change” for the neighbourhood.
“There hasn't been a lot of change seen previously there. So what we're trying to do is just inform and invite people to ask us questions and get to know it.”
The proposal shows all of the townhouse units to have three bedrooms.
Since the proposal was given its first reading, Philip said no major changes had been made, but a few small changes were notable.
“They've increased the interior side yard setback, so that means they pulled the buildings further away from their shared property line with their neighbour,” she said.
“The developer has also made a commitment that will secure, within their zoning, to have overheight garage doors. Because another thing that we frequently hear from people is that they can't fit their 4Runner or Foresters with their rooftop box in their garage.”
The application proposes residential parking of two spaces per unit and three accessible visitor spaces.
“As the development has a single access point, on-street parking will remain available on Garibaldi Avenue, Madill Street, and Britannia Avenue,” reads the development information board.
The developer has offered $1,107,887 as part of the Community Amenity Contributions, as well as improvements to the five-way intersection, a traffic circle, buildout of the five intersection corners and a sidewalk along Madill Street to connect to transit and school bus stops on Buckley.
The main concerns from residents who attended the drop-in open house were that the development was “a massive footprint” to add to the Dentville community, additional traffic will cause safety issues for children who currently play on the quiet streets, and the architectural design did not fit with the current neighbourhood character.
The District will host another session on Wednesday, Feb. 5, this time virtually from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
Residents can attend by joining the session via the District of Squamish website.
