North Cowichan Council will hold a public hearing on a development application for a property at the corner of Henry Road and Trans-Canada Highway in Chemainus, despite a recommendation from North Cowichan development planning staff that the application be denied.
Approving the proposal would require an amendment to the Official Community Plan and changes to zoning bylaws to allow a commercial development at that corner, currently zoned for industrial use only. The proposed development would consist of a gas station, convenience store, two drive-through restaurants and as-yet unspecified commercial units. Council voted to move ahead to second and third readings for the project.
The applicant is Jerry Doman whose family has owned the property since 1968 and who has been trying to redevelop the land for almost eight years. In a letter dated Aug. 9, 2024 from David Longpre of Dalon Management, written on behalf of Doman, Longpre wrote that “...the subject property has undergone a protracted timeline process of application delay caused by new provincial government legislation that intervened mid-application.” These changes required Doman to complete a phase two environmental assessment.
“That took close to almost three years and $175,000 in consultants and fees for what should have been a $30,000 phase two study and the result was all the same,” Doman told council members at the Oct. 16 meeting.
North Cowichan staff presented a report to council with their recommendation that the proposal be denied based on a number of factors, the first being that the development is inconsistent with the Official Community Plan and existing zoning.
Currently the property is zoned for Industrial and Employment use. If approved, the land would be zoned as Commercial.
The OCP states that the municipality will “Discourage expansion of these areas if it facilitates auto-oriented uses or development” (s.3.2.11) and that the municipality will “Not permit additional drive-throughs as they are typically associated with fast food stores that are often visually unappealing and promote vehicle use and increased GHG emissions.” (s. 8.5.2).
Councillor Justice said he was leaning towards agreement with staff, saying, “I do very much support the OCP direction to discourage auto-oriented development, especially drive-throughs.”
Justice also expressed concern that the development may take customers away from businesses in Chemainus’s downtown core.
“We’re being asked to trade three residential properties and a big chunk of industrial land for a commercial conglomerate of a gas station and a couple of fast food restaurants, both of which we have, arguably, too many of. So I don’t think that’s a grand trade."
Chemainus resident Kate Marsh was on the list to address council and spoke against the proposal for similar reasons.
“I don’t think we need restaurants competing with the restaurants in Chemainus that have been struggling for a while,” she said. “Do we really need more competition?"
However, Councillor Istace dismissed this concern, saying businesses in Chemainus are not, in fact, suffering.
“Pretty much every retail space is occupied in Chemainus currently so there’s a [misconception] that businesses are suffering,” said Istace. “What we’re lacking are part-time and full-time jobs for Chemainus residents where they don’t have to go far from the community. So these become really good employment lands, which are strategic goals of North Cowichan council.”
Marsh echoed the staff report, saying the shift to auto-oriented commercial use would increase vehicle traffic and therefore greenhouse gas emissions. But Councillor Mike Caljouw didn’t see this as a long-term problem.
“Nowadays most of the cars out there are ‘stop and start’ so, if you stop your car they stop the motor, and they start instantly as soon as you press the gas pedal to move forward. So there’s not the same worry about idling in a lineup. Also, we’re all going towards electric cars; I have one myself. That’s the future of drive-throughs, people using electric vehicles to access them.”
Jaclyn Casler lives near the proposed development site and contacted Black Press to express her concerns around transparency, specifically about traffic management.
"I live on the Fuller Lake side of Henry Road and oftentimes it's really hard to cross the lanes of traffic and to get going back up to the highway because there's so much traffic on the road," Casler said. "If two drive-throughs and a gas station come in at the top of the road, that’s going to be a significant change in traffic management. It just seems to be shortsighted to be sending it to a public hearing without clarity around how traffic is going to be managed."
According to the report, Doman has offered “enhanced landscaping at the time of development to mitigate the visual impact of the proposed zoning amendment”. But is that going far enough to beautify the corner property and create a welcoming gateway to entice visitors into Chemainus?
Councillor Istace says it will.
“The redevelopment to commercial on this side of the road creates a nice buffer to the natural areas, the homes, and even places such as the golf course. So while I recognize the much needed industrial, this is better use of the land in my opinion.”
The loss of industrial land was another issue raised.
The staff report states, “The proposal requests to rezone three properties from Industrial and Employment to Commercial, which is contrary to OCP policies that largely preserve industrial lands.”
Doman acknowledged this, telling council, “I realize it’s giving up a couple acres of industrial land but I think whatever we would do industrial isn’t going to look as nice as what this would be."
Councillor Bruce Findlay agreed, stating, “I think this is going to be a great development for Chemainus on that corner that, in my view, needs to be done. It will stop people that are going north and hopefully they’ll decide to go down into Chemainus itself, into the core, and see what an amazing town that is.”
Council voted to send the proposal to a second and third reading and instructed staff to schedule a public hearing, where residents will get to have their say.
