Comox council approved the preliminary steps Wednesday to move forward with pursuing an application for 31 townhouse units on Anderton Road.
Derek Jensen, project manager at McElhanney Consulting, spoke to council on behalf of developer Don Cameron for the project at 335 Anderton Rd.
In addition to a rezoning and a development permit, council also looked at improvement to Town-owned land adjacent to the east property line of the proposed development, for the purposes of a public pedestrian connection to Anderton Road.
“This is a win-win for both the town and the developer,” explained Jensen.
In April, a petition was signed by a number of residents in the vicinity of the proposed development, expressing concerns with regard to the traffic impact of Wallace Avenue as an access point to the development.
A handful of residents were present at the meeting.
“We did do an extensive traffic study and looked at a multitude of things,” added Jensen. “The results with the Wallace access is the preferred access over Anderton.”
He said the Wallace access to the development is a better option due to the fact it is a local road and it limits the amount of stops and starts on Anderton.
“Given the intent of Wallace Road is a residential road to provide access to and from home, and given that the anticipated traffic volumes relative to this development and in concert with the existing residences on Wallace Avenue, the threshold for Wallace being considered a local road to something higher is 1,000 cars a day,” explained Jensen.
“As per the traffic report, the daily movements of traffic in concert with this development and the daily uses of Wallace is well below the 1,000 vehicle threshold.”
He noted he can understand that for some time Wallace has been a dead-end road through a cul-de-sac, and the security and privacy that it affords is of benefit to the homeowners.
“…but again I don’t think anyone given the OCP, the Town of Comox zoning bylaw, ever suggested this would be fallow land forever and in the future, and an extension of Wallace in some fashion would likely occur,” he said.
Town Planner Marvin Kamenz gave council a thorough presentation, detailing the proposed three-phased Wallace extension.
Although there was some opposition from residents present at the meeting, council passed a recommendation that staff proceed on the application, with council noting there would need to be changes and approvals made to both a rezoning application and a bylaw, with a possible public hearing scheduled for late February or early March.
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