The owner of the Parksville Beach Resort, beside the Beach Club, wants to build a 123 unit condominium development.

Dave Smith of The Focus Corporation, presented the proposal to council’s committee of the whole on Monday on behalf of property owner Bernie Walsh.

Smith said the city has enough resort accommodation and needs more housing in the downtown core which is what led to their plan to replace the current motel with eight three-story buildings with underground parking.

“There’s always bumps along the way, but hopefully this plan will progress accordingly,” Walsh told The News in response to council’s decision to table the motion until staff could get more information on a road plan that proved to be a surprise stumbling block.

“People don’t want another Beach Club,” said mayor Ed Mayne, though he said this was a very well thought out proposal that most of council was receptive towards.

“This is a higher end proposal,” he said, pointing out “its obviously not going to be affordable housing on the waterfront.”

In the plan presented to council by Smith, the buildings would be along the sides of the property, leaving a gap down the middle creating an ocean view corridor at the foot of the Alberni Highway.

There would be public beach access along the east side of the property and access to the property from the beach boardwalk currently under construction.

Walsh, who has brought various proposals forward over the last six years, told council that the motel needs repairs which he’d rather not do. He would prefer to bulldoze the property and start fresh with the residential project.

The development would require the property to be rezoned from tourist commercial to high density residential and the Official Community Plan (OCP) would have to be changed from mixed waterfront commercial to multifamily residential.

Smith said the multifamily use is considered the highest and best use, according the the OCP and they would leave a seven metre right of way along the beach side of the property.

Some councillors asked about the possibility of including a commercial component, maybe on the beach side along the new boardwalk, but that is not part of the current plan.

“The neighbouring commercial properties don’t want more commercial and the Beach Club is having trouble leasing their commercial space next door,” Walsh said.

He added that the downtown core needs more people living in it and shopping in its stores, not more empty storefronts.

There was also talk of postponing the decision until after a review of the OCP, but the mayor and other councillors felt it would be unfair to delay the decision for a year or two.

The main stumbling block at this initial stage is the existence of a road plan which would encroach on the property, which Walsh said he didn’t want.

The application was tabled until staff could look at other solutions for road access once the current steep entrance in the middle of the block is directed into the Beach Club’s parkade and permanently closed to through traffic.