A 3,200 square foot building is too large for Cowichan Lake’s Billy Goat Island, CVRD board members decided last week.
During an Electoral Area Services meeting, Tuesday, March 15, the board decided against the application for Billy Goat Island, located between Bald Mountain and Youbou.
“That building was too large, Youbou/Meade Creek area director Klaus Kuhn said, after the meeting. “We didn’t accept the application as he presented it, and asked him to come back with a substantially smaller footprint.”
At the foreground of the board’s decision is the fact that the majority of the building is in the protected riparian zone area.
But, Kuhn said, the board can’t outright deny all building applications for the island, thanks to a hardship clause that prevents properties from being sterilized.
“He had it in his head to build a house on there, and what can you do?” Kuhn said. “It’s really unusual, because the island is so narrow, and the building is in the riparian area.”
Billy Goat Island owner Michael Dix met with Youbou’s Advisory Planning Commission (APC) last September, in hopes of getting their support for a second building.
During the meeting, Dix said that he’d owned the island for five years, purchasing it on a whim.
The island is about 3.65 acres in size and is cigar-shaped; actually, two land masses, with a marshy bit between them.
While talking to the APC, Dix said that his intent for the island was entirely personal, and that he’d like to either build two smaller buildings, or one large building.
During the meeting, the APC was in unanimous disapproval of anything being built on the Island, let alone two structures, as most of the island is made up of protected riparian zone. A delegation from the public also showed up to voice their disapproval.
Dix was unavailable for comment with regard to his application being denied by the CVRD, last week.
Kuhn said that the project is now in Dix’s hands, and will depend on when or if the property owner decides to bring his next application to the CVRD’s table.