Should Lake Errock's population triple?

After years of planning and consultation, a massive proposed development near a tiny Fraser Valley community has cleared a key hurdle, even as new ones approach.

But the future of Lake Errock remains uncertain, with significant local opposition to a proposal that could more than triple the population of the community, and with no politician yet willing to say they support the project’s core goals.

The project

Even in the context of a city like Abbotsford or Chilliwack, the development proposal dubbed Harrison Rise would be significant. But in Lake Errock, it has the potential to reshape the community itself.

Two years ago, a development company called GWEB Holdings applied to build 290 homes on a gravel quarry overlooking Lake Errock. Those would include both single-family homes, townhomes, and apartments. The development was big then and it has only grown in the two years since.

Now the developer wants to build nearly 500 homes, including 144 detached houses with secondary suites, 97 townhomes, a 67-unit apartment building and eleven three unit duplexes.

Those five hundred homes would be built across the highway from the tiny community of Lake Errock, a place that had, as of the last census, just 343 people. If built (and if the new homes were occupied by residents, rather than vacationers), Harrison Rise would more than triple the community’s population. It would also prompt the creation of a new sanitary sewer system, expanded water system, and new parks and trails.

The scale of the proposal is unprecedented in the area. Like many such transformative projects in other communities, the developers submitted a proposal to amend the local Official Community Plan to permit higher levels of density. But the scale of the project is such that it has forced local officials just to amend a slice of the plan, but to redraw it completely—or at least consider doing so.

The project would require water, sewer, and other infrastructure that the developer would be expected to finance. But a dramatic increase to the area’s population also has the potential to impact existing roads and highways, recreational amenities and services, and the essence of what Lake Errock is and will become in the future. Some of the changes could benefit locals, with a larger reservoir providing better fire protection and the potential to hook up to a more-resilient wastewater system. But residents are concerned that it would bring too many people to their sleepy community and little lake.

The developer is paying about $250,000 for the planning work that would be needed before that project is approved. The money has been funneled, via the Fraser Valley Regional District, to planning consulting firm Urban Systems. (If the project is rejected by the FVRD, the developer won’t get the money back.) Part of the work has involved asking local residents what they think about the project and potential development across the road. Thus far, the majority of those who have shared their thoughts, don’t love the project. And it’s not just that they have concerns about specific elements of the plan. In general, they don’t like the entire concept.

“The majority of feedback received from the public to date expresses opposition to the proposed density of the development rather than to specific elements that could be addressed through technical assessment and design,” FVRD staff wrote in a recent summary for local politicians. In other words, the public thinks the plan is too large.

That aligns with responses that might be expected from people who already like their community and who might be worried about how a transformative project will change it.

Last week, members of the FVRD’s electoral area services committee—the body, comprised of rural directors elected by unincorporated communities, that will ultimately approve or reject the proposals—met to consider taking the first step towards approving a new Official Community Plan that would endorse the project.

Local politicians had the chance to kill the proposal as it stands, but declined to do so. Instead they passed first reading for the plan. But that only triggers additional consultation work with the public, provincial agencies, school district, and local First Nations.

Indeed, the region’s rural directors were lukewarm to the idea.

“Allowing first reading to proceed gives us the opportunity to collect even more information and provides the public with more opportunity for engagement,” said Cory Cassel, the electoral area director for Area G. “I think it’s important we go through the referral process to hear from agencies and stakeholders, also to get the technical reports in, also to hear from the public.”

So the project will allow residents to further say how much they dislike the plans. It also, hypothetically, would give them a chance to declare that they have been won over by plans for more local parkland or a sewer system their neighbourhood could join. But many don’t believe that’s likely.

Hugh Davidson, another director, questioned how much staff time the plan will consume until the directors get their next chance to vote on it.

“I’m troubled by the lack of support for the Harrison Rise development by Lake Errock residents,” he said. “I know we’ll go and get more information and that’s great, but so far a lot of people are fundamentally opposed based on density arguments that I’m not sure that can be addressed. My concern is that having gone through considerable effort to gather the information, at the end of the day it’s something that fails to convince Lake Errock residents, we’re looking at a win-lose situation for somebody.”

Asked about how politicians will weigh the proposal’s merits given that it seems to conflict with the regional growth strategy just approved by the FVRD’s members, Bill Dickey, the director for the Fraser Canyon area, “with great difficulty.”

At the moment, the proposal is still alive. It will return to local residents for additional feedback in the fall. Eventually comments from residents and other public bodies will be factored into the creation of a second draft plan. The directors will be asked to vote on the plan again to send it to a public hearing, which would be followed by yet another vote. At any point, the politicians could decide to reject the plan and leave the developer with the choice to either scale down their ambitions, or abandon the project entirely.

But many residents are wondering what is the point of more consultation.

The meeting concluded with a series of questions from Lake Errock residents concerned about the project’s potential impacts on infrastructure, the lake, and local amenities. One of those residents, Sarah (who didn’t give her last name), suggested that the public has had its say and that more feedback isn’t going to add anything.

“How much more needs to be said of the same concerns that have been echoed for a year plus now?”

Correction: This story originally identified Cory Cassel as the representative for the Lake Errock area. In fact, Lake Errock is in Area C, whose representative is Mel Waardenberg.