Development Application No. PL2017-095

Thank you for sharing your questions and concerns. We will seek a response from the applicant.

1. We are in receipt of the following from the applicant:
   
   The new units aren't sold, but we have a list of people who would like to buy a new home and be in the park. We will also be offering a discount to any residents who wish to purchase a new home.
2. We have heard the residents concerns and are exploring Whibley road as a potential access for new residents only.
3. The majority of construction traffic will be using the Whibley road access.
4. With Covid-19 it is tricky to give any estimates on the time of construction. However, we are measuring in weeks and not months. We don't anticipate it taking a long time to build the roads, etc. So overall the total project should be about 90 days.
5. After that, we can start to deliver homes and that will depend on the time it takes to receive a building permit from the RDN. There is a real need for affordable housing, and I'm expecting for this project to be wrapped up within a year of the first building permit being approved.

We will seek a response from the applicant and will post it here once received. Update: We have received the following response from the applicant:

"Yes, the new water system will service all existing homes and future homes. So current residents will be getting an upgrade.  In the past, Country Aire MHP has followed the RDN guidelines for summer water restrictions and will still be following those guidelines with the new park."

The proposal includes a new water system that will be built in a different location, which will allow for a near-seamless transition from the old system.  The applicant anticipates minimal interruption in the change over.  Should a water shut off be necessary, the applicant will notify residents and pick a suitable time.

Thank you for your input. We noted this feedback at the Public Information Meeting and it will be considered in our assessment of the application when it is brought forward to the Board. 

While the RDN can not guarantee that there would be no personnel, construction activities, or construction vehicles entering from the Alberni Highway, the proposal is for the access off of Whibley Road to be used during construction and emergency access. Access for the proposed units would be off of the Alberni Highway. Our understanding is that this to avoid traffic cutting through the property to access the highway. 

Hi Andy. The Stormwater Management Plan (SWMP) is based on the previous proposal which would have allowed up to twenty-seven additional manufactured homes. The applicant has reduced the number of additional units being proposed to twenty-two.

The proposal is for Whibley road to provide access available to construction traffic and for future emergency vehicles.  There will be a locked gate, which the fire chief will have a key for. The applicant has advised that the gate is proposed to address concerns over non-residents "cutting through" the park to access the Alberni Highway and vice versa. 

The applicant has provided a report from H20 Environmental assessing the property's existing wells, and if the new homes would have any impact on the existing park and surrounding neighborhood.  The wells at the rear of the property were found to have a more than adequate supply of water to service the proposed development. The proposal is to service the new homes off of the wells located at the rear of the property. 

Below is the quote from H20 report, (please note that the report references 24 homes when the proposal is for 22 homes).

Based on the results of the pumping test, the well can provide a sustained yield of
approximately 108 litres per minute (23 igpm). This is significantly more than the volume calculated for daily use by the proposed additional 24 units on the property, which was approximately 14 lpm. This well can supply the minimum year-round potable water supply to support the proposed development.

In analyses performed on the monitoring well, the lateral radius of influence of the well is approximately 60 metres. There are no wells on neighbouring properties that are less than 60 metres from the pumped well. There should be no adverse impacts on local
groundwater resources from the proposed use of this well.

The applicant has hired Watt Consulting from Victoria to conduct a traffic study on how adding additional homes would affect the access. At that time, it was expected that there would be  26 new homes, and that has now been reduced to 22 new homes.  The proposal is to follow all the recommendations from Watt Consulting which includes:

• Add a yellow centre line and white edge lines to delineate the mobile home park access as the main access route at the Demxx access (markings dashed through the access intersection). Should the concern remain, additional measures such as a permanent stop sign location, speed hump at Demxx access, and/or widening of the mobile home access road in this location may be considered.
• Widen the mobile home access road at the horizontal curve to 5.5m
• Add speed hump signage and markings at the existing speed hump.
• Re-configure the Y-intersection at the south end of the site to create a standard 90 degree intersection as part of the redevelopment.

Lastly, to address the concern about traffic flow, the study found "The volume of the traffic is expected to increase from an existing PM peak hour volume of 12 vehicles per hour to a post-development PM peak hour volume of 28 vehicles per hour. Volumes in both scenarios are equivalent to low volume local roads."