Qualicum Beach council agreed to receive the 'Bus Garage' project final report presented by staff but declined to take further actions until Naked Naturals have presented their plans to the town.
At council's regular meeting on July 17, staff recommended council endorse the final report that includes conceptual design of the town's plan to build an arts plaza and other public amenities in the town-owned portion of the Bus Garage property. It also entailed the preferred parkade layout, order of magnitude estimates of probable cost, and the Transportation Mobility Study.
Council, however, was reluctant to advance the project to the next phase which is creating a final detailed design as they want Naked Naturals, who purchased a portion of the Bus Garage property from the town with the intention of creating a commercial and residential building, to present their detailed plans first.
"I think we need to know what Naked Naturals is planning to do, before we decide what we should do, because a lot of the design hinges on what Naked Naturals needs," said Coun. Petronella Vander Valk. "If they decided they don't want to be residential, which is one of the things we discussed at a previous council meeting, then they wouldn't really need extra parking."
One of the major stumbling blocks is the creation of an underground parking space. Another issue is the uncertain future of the Qualicum Commons, owned by the Qualicum School District. As well, Coun. Anne Skipsey suggested consulting with the Qualicum First Nation on what they want to see created at the Bus Garage site.
Mayor Teunis Westbroek also wants all the information in place before the town proceeds to the next step and was not in favour of endorsing the final report.
Town planner Luke Sales suggested amending the wording of the motion to change endorsement to receive. That way, he explained, it gives staff direction on how to proceed with this project.
"It gives a foundation so that we can start to do the investigative work to give council all the information you need to move forward," said Sales. "As well, Naked Naturals would have an understanding that this report has been received so that they can finalize their plans and then submit to council."
Council agreed to receive the final report but deferred any decision-making on the project until all the pertinent information has been presented to council.
