Too many people, not enough chairs.
More than 40 people crammed into Spallumcheen council chambers Tuesday for a scheduled public hearing on a proposed mountain adventure park in the township. But when the approximate 40 chairs inside chambers filled up quickly, and another near two-dozen people were left standing outside packed into the hallway, administration decided to reschedule the meeting.
“Because we want to accommodate everybody, and to make it fair to everyone, we have decided to adjourn the public hearing and reschedule it,” said township Mayor Christine Fraser.
The meeting will now take place Thursday at 6 p.m. in Armstrong’s Centennial Hall.
READ MORE: Spallumcheen adventure park proposed
Spallumcheen’s Woodbridge Dynamics Inc., operated by Jack and Patti Wood, have applied to the township to build a mountain adventure park – Wood Mountain Adventure Park – on property owned by the family to the west of Highway 97A between Powerhouse Road and Eagle Rock Road.
The company has applied to develop in phases, the park which would consist initially of an alpine coaster ride, children’s play area and challenge course, along with buildings for ticket and merchandise sales, washroom, ride cart storage and repair and administration.
It’s believed Phase 2 of the project would include zip lines, tree climbs and rock climbing areas, and hiking and biking trails, though a site plan for Phase 2 has not been submitted by the applicants.
The Woods have five properties within their application with four of them zoned large holdings. The other is zoned agricultural and that property is partially within the Agricultural Land Reserve.
The application before Spall council is a site specific zoning bylaw amendment to change the text of the large holding zone and the agricultural zone to allow the mountain park as a site specific permitted use on the subject properties only.
Staff has recommended, pending input from the community, that council approve third reading of the application, but hold off on final approval until a covenant in favour of the township has been registered against the title of the subject properties.
To date, council has received more than 150 pieces of correspondence in regards to the application, the vast majority in favour of the proposed park. A list was being compiled Tuesday for those who wished to speak to council on the application, and close to 10 names had been signed before the meeting was adjourned to Thursday.
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