An application to rezone a nearly 500-acre Interlakes property - a process that would also require an Official Community Plan amendment - will be reviewed by the Cariboo Regional District board later this week.
The subject property is 494 acres on Brown Road, a portion of which fronts onto Lesser Fish Lake. The owners have presented a plan to subdivide the property into 43 parcels - ranging in size from 2.5 to 117 acres - designated residential, rural residential and resource/agriculture. Among the parcels will be seven lakefront lots, according to the application.
Planning staff with the CRD are in support of the proposal “in principle” but are recommending a public information meeting due to the projects large scale, according to a report.
Because the proposal would require an OCP amendment to be approved, the applicants hired a consulting firm - Thompson Rivers Appraisals Inc. - to undertake a review of the estimated demand for lakefront lots in the community.
“As a result of our inspection and subsequent investigations and analysis, we have concluded that, as of the date of this study, the current supply of residential lakefront, and upland lots, in the Lesser Fish Lake/Bridge Lake/Sheridan Lake, and Small Lakes neighbourhoods, does not meet the five-year demand for these types of properties,” the consultant report reads.
A wetland management plan is also recommended by a biologist who conducted an assessment of the property.
In the report to the board accompanying the OCP and zoning amendment bylaw, staff noted that the current property owners “want to create a unique and special neighbourhood, one that has character and will appeal to future owners who respect the land like they do.”
“They believe that this development will be an asset to the Interlakes area, it will create a liveable neighbourhood and protect all environmental attributes,” the report states.
CRD board members will consider giving first reading to the Interlakes Area Official Community Plan Bylaw and the South Cariboo Area Zoning Amendment Bylaw at their meeting Friday morning.
melissa.smalley@100milefreepress.net
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