Kaslo Village Council has decided to decline a proposal by QP Developments to build a strata RV campsite at a property on the Kaslo River.
This does not mean that council will not consider a new version of the proposal in the future, Mayor Suzan Hewatt told the Nelson Star.
"I didn't hear members of council say 'no' to this development. But just not in the form that was originally presented," she said.
For more than a year the developer and the village have been discussing a land exchange that would have seen the village selling 5.44 acres of road allowances within the South Beach property to the developer, who would in turn sell 1.55 acres of riparian land along the river to the village.
The proposal also included four-to-eight housing units and a non-motorized boat launch. That would have required rezoning the land, which is now zoned for industrial use. A bylaw to rezone it passed first reading at council.
Hewat said there is a perception in the community that there has not been enough public consultation and that there is information in consultant reports that has not been fully absorbed by council or by the public. She said council was uncertain what conditions it should attach to the draft agreement between council and the developer.
So at its Feb. 11 meeting, council decided to take a step back and first rezone the property to remove its current industrial zoning so that it is in line with its new Official Community Plan. This process will resume at council's next meeting.
"Council came back around to that as being the starting point," Hewat said, "versus the purchase and sale agreement."
The main public opposition to the project, she said, was its scope – 80 RV spaces. There have also been concerns about access to the waterfront and the need for affordable housing. The land is on a flood plain, however, which precludes building major structures.
Council might entertain a new proposal in the future, she said, after rezoning and when council has decided what conditions it would like to see in the agreement.
