Official community plan expedites municipal process
Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality’s (SPMRM) rezoning process has sped up with the adoption of an Official Community Plan.
Chief administrative officer Rob Bremner said rezoning applications for single-family homes to legally allow short-term tourist accommodation are still trickling in, but they no longer require provincial approval.
With the adoption of the community plan on March 24, SPMRM can now adopt the rezoning bylaws itself at the municipal council meetings.
“The province was taking three, four or five months with them,” Bremner said. “We can do it a meeting later. It’ll help the process for sure.”
Bremner said they have received just shy of 40 applications. Most have been processed, but it will be an ongoing task as properties change ownership or people decide they want to accommodate short-term tourist rentals.
“I’d say at least 75 per cent, maybe 80 per cent, are well into the process and moving forward,” he said.
“The process has been very seamless. Now we’ve done so many of them we kind of know what to expect and we haven’t had a lot of hiccups.”
The municipality is also continuing to work on fixing building code issues in relation to the zoning on Burfield Drive to permit legal tourist accommodations. Bremner said he expects a draft to be presented to council in early July.
“When we sent it away it’s the idea that we’re not putting anybody in danger. I think that’s council’s sole goal. We don’t want to take away accommodation, but we also want to make sure the accommodation is safe and falls within the codes,” Bremner said.
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