District of Squamish council members have once again turned their sights to the contentious land use plan for the Upper Mamquam Blind Channel.
"This has been going on for sometime," said community services general manager Cameron Chalmers. "But before the district can use the land or let others use the land they need a land use study."
A land use study contract was awarded to Halcrow Consulting, in association with Matthew Roddis Urban Design during an Oct. 5 district council meeting. Halcrow's bid was within the $25,000 budgetted to come up with a plan and subsequent stakeholder meeting.
Conscious of the area's past development attempts when Kingswood Development began marketing its high-density Red Point project only to have council rescind third reading in July 2008, Coun. Corinne Lonsdale said the land use study should reflect "what the community wants, not the landowner."
Chalmers said the core of the study is community engagement but landowners are evidently important stakeholders.
Kingswood still owns the land intended for Red Point, and the company's most recent development proposal for an RV Park also fell through after being rendered unfeasible by a council amendment in April 2009.
Council decided to establish a 30-day consecutive stay in any six-month period for all tourist orientated recreational vehicles applicable to all new RV park in Squamish.
The motion was carried with only Coun. Paul Lalli opposed, squashing Kingswood's second project proposal.
Heintzman said the area had issues with accessibility, which would need to be addressed, but Chalmers said the issue wasn't access but the neighbourhood's tolerance for street traffic.
"It comes down to the question -what is a reasonable or tolerable amount of traffic?"
Lonsdale maintained the study should be centered on the community's interests and Chalmers reminded her that community input is important but might not be in line with feasibility.
"We need to see what the community wants," said Chalmers. "But we may find out the market viability and the community's desires are incompatible."
Aside from Kingswood, there are other property owners who would likely make their own demands of the district before agreeing to any new development that may impact their property.
Wes DeCooke and Perry Beckham both own property along the Upper Mamquam Blind Channel and have for years expressed frustrations to the district about land use in the area.
Beckham said he has no legal access to his property, which is fronted by DeCooke's land and the channel, and argues the district should provide access.
He said he also wants the district to consult him before determining what uses would be appropriate for the area.
"I own the property so if they're coming up with a plan for the area I better well be notified and compensated in some way," he said.
Beckham's issues date back to the previous land use study during the Red Point proposal, which appeared to condone crossing trails on private property such as his own.
He said the district should negotiate a legal easement on the land to make the trail public property.
Wes DeCooke's property is also on the channel between Scott Road and Beckham's property line. DeCooke is trying to sell the property, according to Beckham. DeCooke didn't return calls from The Chief.
The property is back in DeCooke's hands after having sold it to realtor Fred Yuen for more than $2 million in September 2007, according to a 2008 Chief report.
In 2008, Yuen told The Chief he hoped to turn the 2.8-acre parcel of land into temporary housing accommodations for Olympic Games workers.
However the site was zoned commercial and industrial, and "there's no temporary uses on residential," said Chalmers at the time.
Yuen said high taxes on the site were making it hard to use the land profitably. His plans never materialized.
