Residents of Sunset Cove,
Background
Every community in Saskatchewan is required to have an official document known either as a Basic Planning Statement or an Official Community Plan. These are documents which guide current and future councils in the direction of growth and development their residents foresee. It is akin to being a “roadmap” for their community. Such documents should be reviewed and updated regularly to ensure they are still applicable to the wants and needs of the community.
The Resort Village of Sunset Cove has not undertaken a review of their Basic Planning statement since its original adoption approximately 40 years ago. Much has changed since that time, such as an emphasis on protecting our lake and sensitive lands, regulating development on land subject to ground movement, and numerous legislative changes such as the new Statement of Provincial Interest Regulations and the new safe building elevations mandated by the Water Security Agency.
For Your Review
- Original Basic Planning Statement
- DRAFT of our new Official Community Plan, which would replace our current Basic Planning Statement
Please take a read of both documents and forward your questions or concerns to our administrator by email at rvsunsetcove@sasktel.net so they can be addressed. We will endeavor to provide a timely response to each concern. Note: Council truly wants feedback from our residents. This is YOUR Official Community Plan and the more people who provide input into it, the better it will be.
Keep in mind that when going through these documents, that both documents were created for the betterment of a community as a whole. It is both recognized and expected that some clauses will not correspond to every resident’s specific aspirations. If you find yourself in disagreement with one or more aspect of these documents, please consider whether the clause you are disagreement with impacts just yourself or if it impacts the community as a whole.
Highlights
The new Official Community Plan (OCP) is focused towards ensuring that our resort village remains a quiet 4-season resort village. It strives to limit commercial development within our resort village and ensures that the resort village has a degree of regulatory control over what is being developed within our community. Notable changes stemming from the implementation of the new OCP include:
a) Most developments within the resort village will now require a Development Permit prior to any development or use being permitted. This permit has no fee associated to it and only takes a couple of minutes to complete. It ensures what is being built or brought into our resort village meets the requirements of the Zoning Bylaw, does not negatively impact the community or neighbouring properties, and does not adversely affect existing surface water drainage patterns.
b) The only commercial activity permitted within Sunset Cove shall be home-base businesses and home offices. Business licenses will be required for any home-based business such as vacation rentals, to ensure the resort village has established measures to protect both our residents and any person renting such a location. The OCP will ensure that the establishment of home-based business does not interfere with the enjoyment of your property.
c) The province has established strict limits in regards to what is now known as a Safe Building Elevation (SBE). This new elevation is the 1:500 year flood level, known as the Estimated Peak Water Level (EPWL) plus approximately 1 meter of additional height, known as Freeboard (FB), which accounts for wind and waves action. The Resort Village cannot issue development permits or building permits for structures situated below the SBE. This legislation does not affect existing structures already located within this area, but could have an impact on any new shoreline development.
d) Administrative practices and investment requirements are better defined.
e) The two recent boundary changes of Sunset Cove are now detailed upon our Land Use Map.
f) Better protection of our Environmentally Sensitive lands, Municipal Reserve and other green spaces.
g) Land currently located within our resort village, which may be required for future infrastructure development, was protected from future sale.
h) Limiting the type of structures that are permitted to be used as primary dwellings. (Mobile homes, recreation vehicles, shipping containers, fabric-walled or earth-wall structures, multi-family buildings, etc. will not be permitted as a primary dwelling).
i) Many lakeside communities are struggling with private and public properties being used or rented as camping locations/party locations. Restrictions were place within the OCP to address this concern and to ensure this does not become a problem within our community.
j) Geotechnical engineering requirements were established to help identify safe development locations and to limit the resort’s exposure to civil liability.
Timelines
The specific objectives and policies established within our OCP are put into effect by the implementation of our new Zoning Bylaw, which is currently being finalized. We are working towards having a Draft of our new Zoning Bylaw posted to our website sometime in May 2024.
Once written feedback has been received from our residents, there will be a public meeting held, expected to be in June or early July. After the public meeting, council will implement all required changes which then gets forwarded to the Ministry of Government Relations to be reviewed and approved by the Community Planning Branch. The Minister then signs off on these documents and they officially become our procedures leading us into our foreseeable future.