A public process would be required before a Sapperton site ever becomes home to a new school.
As part of its long-range planning to address projected enrolment growth on the east side of the city, the New Westminster School District purchased a .438-acre single-family lot for $1.75 million last spring. The site at 522 Fader St. is located across from Hume Park Elementary and is contemplated as a future home for a middle school.
On Monday, city council considered an official community plan amendment bylaw that included a number of components, including designating 522 Fader St. as major institutional in the OCP, rather than its existing designation of residential- detached and semi-detached housing.
“When you look at that notice, I think the implications of it for the neighbourhood aren’t really well explained,” said area resident Rnold Smith, who appeared at Monday’s public hearing on behalf of his neighbours. “When we all met as a group to talk about it, it seemed hard to imagine what does this is actually mean. Is it happening now? Are they rezoning this? Is this just a notice for us to know about it? It seems like there is a really great opportunity in terms of public engagement to use more plain language.”
On Jan. 14, council directed staff to consider ways the city can be a more welcoming and inclusive place for all citizens. Making council agendas easier to read is one of the ideas being explored.
Lynn Roxburgh, a senior planner with the city, said the new designation for 522 Fader St. is a housekeeping change in the official community plan.
“All of the properties that the school district owns in the city are designated major-institutional, indicating that one day in the future there will be a school likely in that location. There will have to be further consultation and further process to change the zoning,” she said. “This process is only indicating the future land use in the OCP.”
Once the school district initiates a rezoning process for the site, Roxburgh said the city would require all of the normal consultation and would provide the information about what is actually being proposed. At that time, she said residents would have an opportunity to give feedback on elements such as design, parking and circulation and to ask the questions about the project.
“We would still, at the time, look at a rezoning application, which would change the use of the property from single-family to a school,” she said. “That piece still has to come in the future with its own evaluation process.”
Mayor Jonathan Cote said it’s important to recognize there are differences between zoning and the official community plan, with the OCP indicating the broad land uses that a city could consider and rezoning showing specific things that could happen on a site.
“The school district, I don’t think, is anywhere close to a detailed conversation about that,” he said. “This is more of just making sure that properties owned by the school district have the same official community plan outlay.”
In addition to 522 Fader St., the official community plan amendment approved at Monday’s meeting also changes the designations of three other properties in the OCP: 361 Keary St. is being designated as residential-multiple unit residential (instead of residential-detached and semi-detached housing); 345 Keary St. is now residential- ground-oriented infill housing (instead of residential-detached and semi-detached); and 1906 River Dr. is industrial (instead of residential-detached and semi-detached.)
“The changes to these four properties are proposed in order for the OCP designations to match the existing zoning or for other reasons that would normally have been supported during the creation of the OCP,” said Emilie Adin, the city’s director of development services.
Bylaw 8151 also amends the official community plan bylaw in other ways: streamlining the development permit application process by exempting additional types of projects from development permit requirements; amending the Queensborough community plan by bringing the land-use designations into alignment with the 2017 official community plan; and amending the OCP to address typos.
