A disgruntled developer is decrying what he calls unfair practices by District of Squamish council in voting down a zoning amendment that would've allowed his project higher density than originally proposed.
"It may be the straw that broke the back," said Skye developer Thomas Ivanore, adding that if the decision isn't reversed, the many direct employees and contractor employees of the project will be out of work by December.
But Coun. Doug Race is questioning the threat of job loss, saying the construction of a second tower of condos has to be completed, yet Ivanore said he'll shut down this portion as well if the townhouse rezoning decision isn't reversed.
"He has tied in this rezoning with the going ahead with that second tower and that's of course put the trades in a difficult position," said Race. "He's linked practically the entire second half [of the project] to this rezoning of these townhouses, and I'm not sure why he's doing that except to put more pressure on us."
The entire three-phase project, commonly known by its first phase, Skye, borders the Squamish estuary at Main St. and Third Ave. and is zoned for 35 town houses and 234 condos.
Its third phase, Aqua, proposes 16 of those townhouses and 84 condos. Ivanore requested an amendment to eliminate all 16 townhomes in favour of 55 condos - without changing the actual floor space -for a total of 139 condos on the site.
That's because the townhouses aren't selling, said Ivanore. He said the world is going through economic changes, and those changes must be reflected in the project to make it viable.
"The condos sell," he said. "The townhouses were a combination of a mistake and the area. The downtown is still rather depressing. I had two investors in last week. We drove down Cleveland Avenue and their response to me was 'Why would you do anything here?'"
Ivanore said even lowering the houses' prices hasn't helped.
"The women who are buying with families say 'We don't want to bring our kids into the downtown environment. We'll go somewhere where it's better for our kids. Where there's not crime, there's not drugs.'"
Ivanore pointed to a recent lawsuit filed by developers against the municipality of White Rock, saying he hasn't discounted taking the municipality to court. A similarity exists, he said, because the lawsuit contends White Rock unfairly rejected a project proposal despite its compliance with an official community plan. Ivanore said his amended rezoning fits the criteria laid out in the district's 2000 downtown concept plan document.
Ivanore said that's partially the district's fault that the amendment was put forward, since developers got "sold a bill of goods" when they were "enticed" into investing in Squamish by a district's downtown concept plan from 2000, which showed improvements such as adding to the neighbourhood's one and only access point.
He said 14 months ago, the development company foresaw the problem and began amending plans to turf the houses in favour of condos. Ivanore said district staff was encouraging, and led him to believe the amendments would be approved. He said he also anticipated approval because the new plan includes slightly fewer residents than the district's own concept plan proposes for the downtown.
On May 19, council turned down the amendment in a split vote that saw councillors Race, Patricia Heintzman, Bryan Raiser and Corinne Lonsdale against. Ivanore can resubmit the rezoning application in six months if he chooses.
"One of the issues with that property is a) it's right by the estuary, and b) it's adjacent to an existing largely single-family neighbourhood," Race said in an interview this week.
Workers have been emailing and phoning councillors to voice their opposition and express concern for their employment. But, said Race, council can't make zoning decisions based on construction jobs.
"I met with one of [the workers] who was sort of a spokesperson for them," said Race. "Their worried about their jobs basically evaporating later this fall, but I've told him, 'You can't make zoning decisions based on construction jobs because the construction jobs are kind of one to two years, but the zoning improvement that they build is here 50 years.'"
Race also said the downtown concept plan should be treated solely as policy guidelines.
"Those policies, I think, are more of a maximum than a guaranteed right."
He added there may be a need to discuss the district's approach to rezoning applications as their being processed, saying staff may be asked to give council a sense of proposals to assess council's comfort level before months of work goes into them.
Countering Ivanore's complaints that the district's own Oceanfront proposal would see more density than he proposes, Race said the Mamquam Blind Channel area is a better fit since drivers have a practically direct link to the highway.
Heintzman said the project's density was already a concern when first approved three years ago, and the additional condos - which amounts to a 16 per cent increase in density - is not appropriate for its location.
"I was always concerned not necessarily with the density downtown, but with the density in that location, approximate to the estuary," she said. "But I felt it was a good stimulus for getting downtown going."
