A pair of bylaws paving the way for a luxury housing development between Fernie and the ski hill has been approved by the Regional District of East Kootenay.
This comes after the RDEK’s board of directors voted 9-5 in favour of passing bylaws 3213 and 3214.
The approval amends the Elk Valley Official Community Plan and Elk Valley Zoning Bylaw to rezone multiple properties known as the Galloway Lands.
“It’s going to be a residential development, plus a lot of private land is going to be set aside for conservation and preservation use,” said RDEK board chair Rob Gay. “About half of the land is going to be used for housing development, the other half will either be given or sold to some organization that will manage that land for conservation and recreation.”
RDEK officials said the next step requires the developer to apply for subdivision to create the conservation zone.
Gay said there are several conditions that must be met as part of the bylaws’ approval.
“There was some concern with Lizard Creek. It’s a very important spawning area. A bridge will need to go across that, but there’s going to be a riparian area protected along the creek,” explained Gay. “During the development agreement, there were a lot of things agreed to and none of that will happen until an environmental plan is in place.”
Gay said the homes will likely mostly consist of large estate-style buildings, which is consistent with nearby properties.
“For the working folks, we would like to see more modest homes, but on the ski hill development we have a number of large homes up there,” said Gay. “These will probably be larger homes, but not necessarily. People could buy the lot and build a smaller home.”
There are still some hoops the developer will need to jump through before any construction can begin.