At a council meeting on March 4, Parksville city council voted to defer a motion that could have seen an Official Community Plan (OCP) bylaw amendment to limit multi-unit developments along the river.
This came after council heard a presentation at the meeting from Mid Island Habitat Enhancement Society President Barb Riordan about how changes to the Local Government Act may impact environmentally sensitive areas along the Englishman River.
Later in the meeting, Coun. Amit Gaur proposed to amend the OCP to enact a low-density development land use designation with a four-hectare minimum parcel size property that contains a riparian and coastal floodplain area. He said this would help balance the need for new housing while protecting the ecosystem along the river.
After council members spoke of reservations about this idea, Gaur asked if the motion should be deferred to be looked at being fit into next year’s work plan.
