After a long road to get there, the newly rezoned section of rail trail in Sicamous will keep its P-3 Parks designation, despite a proposed new zoning.
At the April 24 district Committee of the Whole meeting, Coun. Gord Bushell presented a draft P-6 Transportation Corridor that he’d originally suggested at the April 10 rezoning vote.
“We’re not holding anything up, we’re going ahead with the third reading of the P-3… but I do think we need to correct our zoning on that side of the channel,” he said. “Our OCP (official community plan) supports private docks over there, and P-3 supports group moorage… so I think we should follow our vision with the OCP and zone it properly, because it’s not zoned properly for private docks.”
The zone he created would allow a rail trail, public utilities, fixed or removable walkways and docks – one per property – and a pedestrian bridge.
Mayor Colleen Anderson, however, pointed out that a property’s zoning doesn’t apply to the waterfront, which has its own zoning.
“Just for clarification, the folks on the other side of the channel, the dock owners… once they gain permission from the upland owner, they are able to have their docks,” she explained. “So that has really nothing to do with us, because the water is zoned for private moorage in Sicamous.”
Chief administrative officer Kelly Bennett confirmed that, adding that no other properties abutting the lake have docks mentioned in their zoning; it’s the water – W-1, W-2 and W-3 zones – that dictates the allowance of a dock.
“It is the W-1 that is the water, that’s the one that controls the upland docks, it has nothing to do with the zoning,” Anderson said. “Once they get their permits, they are good to go.”
Though Bushell had suggested sending the proposed P-6 zone to the planning committee for review, the committee didn’t make a motion to do so.
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