A few weeks made all the difference for a regional district director and his constituents, leading to the board of directors shooting down a proposed expansion of a Summit Lake campground.
During Thursday afternoon's meeting, Regional District of Fraser-Fort George Area G director Terry Burgess led the push to turn down Bernie Chingee's application to redesignate nearly 11 hectares of land from public institutional to commercial recreation. Chingee already operates a 44-unit operation on a 1.5-hectare site.
Burgess said that initial public consultation indicated a favourable response to extending Chingee's temporary use permit for site and expanding his operation. But by the time a public meeting on June 19 was held, the tide had turned.
"In fact, we had some issues from the people who supported the extension who were now emphatically against any expansion," said Burgess. The change was precipitated by an unsavoury experience with a treeplanting contractor that set up a camp of up to 80 people and the subsequent noise and potential stress on the lake.
"There's been no attempt by the owner to live up to our rules or co-operate with the residents, recently at least," said Burgess.
Co-operation played a key role in the board approving another application, this time for the approval of a temporary use permit for a gravel processing pit off Highway 97 near Courval Road.
Residents who attended a public hearing on the application all expressed concerns about dust levels.
"It's choking out there," said one neighbour. "The dust is very bad."
Development services general manager Terry McEachen explained that applicants Daniel and Judy Sindia are required to "use the best available technology to suppress dust and reduce particulate emissions."
But the board moved that as a precondition of issuing the permit, the applicant will need to demonstrate dust mitigation.
