Sooke looks at last pieces of business before election

In July Sooke council agreed to give leniency to a local landowner who wants to subdivide family land from one large rural lot to three lots; the parents will live in the main house, build a second house for their daughter, and sell the third lot. But re-zoning requirements around individual driveways, frontage requirements, and new roads were making the idea prohibitive. They asked for accommodation before applying for rezoning, because if allowances were not made they would not proceed with the plan to subdivide. Council granted the variance, and now the family has formally applied for the rezoning. The public hearing was held Monday night, and council will decide in a future meeting whether to approve the rezoning.

In the Whiffin Spit neighbourhood a homeowner is asking for permission to build a seawall to protect their yard from erosion. Normally a 15 metre buffer from the ocean prevents any structures from being built, so an exemption is required. Neighbouring properties already have seawall-like structures.

Sooke Fire Rescue is asking for permission to buy a $900,000 fire truck with debt financing. The truck it would replace still has three years of useful life, but the fire department says demand has increased and this unit has long been tagged for replacement.

A $4.5 million contact to expand Sooke’s wastewater treatment plant has been drafted for Industra Construction Corp., based in Surrey, pending council’s approval. Industra’s quote was lowest—four bids ranged from $4.5 to $6.3 million. The total cost of the upgrades is budgeted at $7.9 million. Sooke received a provincial grant for $4.6 million, and the rest will come from the sewer reserve fund and wastewater development cost charges fund.

Tonight the district will hold a public hearing to hear comments from the public about the Official Community Plan. There’s still one more meeting before this council dissolves ahead of the election, which means there’s a chance the OCP will be passed. Read on to catch up on the issues surrounding Sooke’s draft OCP.