The land at the centre of one of the most contentious decisions of the last Sechelt council is back on the market.
Sechelt Sustainable Communities (SSC) applied in 2015 to rezone 162 hectares (420 acres) made up of several smaller lots in Porpoise Bay for a mixed-use development.
The project was abandoned after a March council vote that rejected sending the company’s rezoning application to public hearing by a margin of 6-1.
Newly elected mayor Darnelda Siegers, a councillor at the time, was the lone vote in favour.
The vote on SSC came up several times during the election, and the promotional material from the real estate company handling the listing includes a bit of the political and zoning history.
“The current owners applied to rezone the property to create a more sustainable community,” the pamphlet says. “The application had widespread community support but was turned down by the previous council. Subsequently only one of the past council members was reelected in the recent municipal election.”
The zoning remains CD 13, a comprehensive zoning put in place to allow the Silverback development, which included a golf course and 1,600 homes.
When a group that included then-mayor John Henderson and developer Clark Hamilton purchased the land from the Silverback proponents in 2014, they told Coast Reporter the selling price was $11.75 million.
The property is now listed at $23.8 million.
Shortly after their zoning application was rejected, SSC officials told Coast Reporter the company estimated it spent as much as $2 million to get the project to a stage where they thought it should go forward for first reading and public hearing, including studies, events and community engagement.
