A motion to direct staff to make the preparations necessary for the establishment of a select committee on housing failed at the Qualicum Beach council meeting, Monday (May 29), with only councillors Barry Avis and Anne Skipsey voting in favour.
Skipsey first brought forward the motion at the May 1 meeting.
The staff recommendation, though, was to assess the appropriate steps to address the housing issue after the 2017 Official Community Plan (OCP) was finished. Skipsey said she felt the creation of a housing committee didn’t hinge on the completion of the OCP review, but she did add some of the information from the review would feed into the committee.
“I think there’s lots of areas where the committee could start to work, prior to finalization of the OCP.”
Coun. Neil Horner, who opposed the committee, said it was too late to start a committee to study the issue.
“This strikes me as a recipe to accomplish exactly nothing on this file during our term in office,” Horner said.
Horner said there are several members of council who are working quite hard to resolve the housing issue, “as opposed to just studying it.” Horner highlighted the Berwick development, which will “Hoover out seniors from as many as 70 or even more single-family homes in the community, all at once, when the facility opens up”; the proposed development on Laburnum Road; and the numerous developments on First Avenue that have come forward to council.
Horner said staff is already heavy on committees.
“At some point, you have to ask, if we’re going to start a new committee which one should we disband? Environment? Parks? How about public safety?”
Coun. Bill Luchtmeijer said his biggest concern would be that creating a committee on housing is an indication to the public that council is going to be supplying housing.
“We as a municipality, are not in the business of supplying housing. We supply zoning, we facilitate development and housing, but we’re not in the business of building or supplying housing,” Luchtmeijer said.
Skipsey said her intention with the motion was certainly not that the town start supplying housing.
“There’s lots of local governments that have housing committees that don’t necessarily supply housing,” Skipsey said. “They look at the bigger picture, they don’t look at each development proposal as it comes forward. They have a plan or ideas prior to and they work with the community to try and fulfill some of the gaps where housing needs are not being met.”
Mayor Teunis Westbroek said at the end of the Quality of Life survey, which will be released soon, the survey asks respondents whether they would like to take part in future discussions on different topics. The first topic listed is housing. See page 22.
Westbroek said he agreed that housing is a big topic, but he suggested letting the OCP process take place and then look at the recommendations coming out of the OCP and see if it requires a select committee on housing.
The next regular council meeting is June 19 at 7 p.m.