The Summer Village of Sunbreaker Cove has been given more time to review planning studies as part of its appeal of a proposed 500-lot RV resort on Sylvan Lake.
The province’s Municipal Government Board granted the extension despite the objections of Lacombe County at a preliminary hearing in Edmonton last week.
The hearing was to discuss the summer village’s appeal of a county decision to rezone 148 acres of agricultural land next to the summer village for Skyy Country Golf and RV Resort in Edmonton.
County commissioner Terry Hager contended that the summer village had ample time to review the planning documents and present its submissions ahead of the hearing and further delays would boost county costs. “Time lines were set out by the Municipal Government Board, and they’re set out for a reason,” said Hager on Wednesday. “If we’re not going to follow the time lines it sort of becomes meaningless. Everybody plays by the same rules.”
Hager said the summer village had been reluctant to spend money on consultant reviews of the studies while mediation was under way. About half a dozen mediation sessions were held over three months without reaching an agreement.
Former Sunbreaker Cove Mayor Gib Clark, who has been a vocal opponent of Skyy, said he was disappointed with the county’s stance.
“We were not going to hire experts while mediation was ongoing. That would be silly.”
Consultants will now be hired to review traffic and other planning documents. “I have no idea what they’re going to say. It’s our view it’s too big. Whether a planner agrees I don’t know.”
Opponents also argue the county’s planning documents don’t anticipate a development of this scale or that the area would be developed for many years.
The Municipal Government Board awarded the county $5,000 to cover additional costs. It also gave the summer village until Aug. 13 to review various studies gathered by developers in support of their RV resort application. The county has until Aug. 31 to respond and the summer village will also get a couple of days for a formal rebuttal after that.
A three-day appeal hearing has been set for Sept. 8-10 at Lacombe Memorial Centre.
The summer village argues in its appeal of the county’s November 2009 decision to rezone land for the RV resort that local facilities are already operating at peak and the development would “cause gross overcrowding and may or is likely to create dangerous situations.”
Developers want to build about 450 condominium lots, about 50 daily rental spots, a nine-hole par-three golf course, small water park and recreation area on a site just a couple of kilometres from Sunbreaker Cove. It would be developed in four phases.
pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com