The RDEK Board of Directors has approved the first two readings on a new proposal to rezone 457 acres of forest near Fernie and the plan will move ahead to a public hearing.
According to the proposal, the developer intends to use only a portion of the land to build housing.
“The developer would like to build a separate access road that would come across Lizard Creek and access lots, and there would be a potential to build up to 90 homes in that area,” said RDEK Chair Rob Gay. “It would be similar to the alpine resort, with seasonal homes or year-round homes.”
Gay said the rest of the property would remain forested.
“Much of the land would be given to a conservation-recreation type of organization that would look after it,” explained Gay. “Much of the land would not be developed, it would be put in a sort of park-type zoning and put into that park basically forever.”
Now the proposal will go ahead to a public hearing, which will be different than the typical process.
“There’s a lot of people within Fernie and Electoral Area A and within the regional district who would like to have some say,” said Gay. “We would like to have two: one would be a face-to-face public hearing, and the other would be virtual because a lot of the residents on the ski hill live elsewhere and they may not be able to make it to Fernie.”
Gay said letters sent to the RDEK are just as important as contributing to a public hearing in person.
“What we would like to hear from the public, is if you support it or you don’t you and a few reasons why,” said Gay. “It doesn’t have to be lengthy, but some feedback from the public will help us make an informed decision.”
THe RDEK will accept written submissions until 4:30 p.m. on May 1.
The first hearing will go ahead at 7 p.m. on May 3 in Fernie and the second will go ahead over Zoom at the same time on the following night.