A possible subdivision could be built on a 19 acre forest in Wildwood and a number of neighbours are concerned.
Sara Dent asked city council last week to look at options such as a land swap with the developer in order to preserve the property.
She believes residents around Chilco Avenue and Columbia Street will be living in perpetual construction zone for years, as well as deforestation, displacement of wildlife and additional city infrastructure.
“The biggest construction company in Powell River can only do eight houses a year. So if they’re able to get a subdivision application in for upwards of maybe 70 lots we’re looking at what might be like a 10 to 15 year construction build,” Dent told Vista Radio.
She’s also concerned about conservation of the Douglas Fir forest.
“I hope that mayor and council will be open to thinking through this. I just really hope for this lot that the developer will be amenable to working with the neighbourhood or potentially figuring out some other type of solution,” Dent said.
The 19 acres is properly zoned for home building. City staff say, so far, there has been no subdivision application but they’re expecting it.
Dent said she knew the 19 acres was private property when she moved to the neighbourhood in 2019 and talking with neighbours they had “mixed things to say” about whether it would ever been developed.
She admits it might have been better to have approached the owner sooner about putting the land into conservation instead of the situation the neighbourhood is facing now.
She agrees Powell River needs affordable housing but doesn’t believe the houses that could be built will be affordable. She claims they will likely be in the $800,000 to $1 million range.
A report on Dent’s ideas will come to a future council meeting.
