The District of Sooke has given the green light to variance permit on East Sooke Road at Silver Spray Marine Estates’ request.
At the March 8 council meeting, council unanimously approved the development variance permit for a section of East Sooke Road roughly between Edith and Sea Cliff roads.
The roadwork is needed for a new 19-strata lot subdivision within the private Silver Spray Marine Estates development, a district staff report stated.
The developer asked council to modify a bylaw that requires the construction of an urban collector road to a modified rural collector road.
The modification consists of replacing the 1.5-metre paved and 1.0-metre gravel shoulders with 1.5-metre gravel shoulders, plus a 2.5-metre parking lane along a 65-metre-long portion of the approximate 245-metre road frontage. It will also include a 1.5-metre gravel trail for the majority of the remaining northern road frontage.
Area residents were concerned that the proposal seeks to downgrade the road design requirement and then further downgrade it by narrowing the road and permitting parking by eliminating one road shoulder.
But Michael Thorton, spokesman for the developers, said they’re just seeking to maintain the standard agreed on at the time of the property rezoning.
“It’s in keeping with what was envisioned. The road design is suitable for the number of (new) homes. We just added some parking,” Thorton said.
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