The Chair of the Cariboo Regional District has responded to questions surrounding a contentious zoning application from Blackwater Timber in the Nazko area.
Al Richmond, while acknowledging that the community is split on the issue, says the Board, in the end, has to consider all the information from a public hearing on the issue as well as all of the letters it received and then make a decision.
Richmond, who himself voted to allow the rezoning, says it really changes very little from the temporary permit that was already in place.
He says for the first time in his memory the CRD Board has to go to a weighted vote to break a tie and adds that the more populated areas within the Regional District get more than one vote; in some cases up to 3.
Richmond says the applicant now has to comply with several requirements and then the application will come back for final adoption.
At that point, it can still be rejected.
Stewart Fraser, the President of the Nazko Community Association, insists that most people in the area would prefer that the CRD simply give the company another temporary license for three more years.
Area I Director Dylan Cash, along with CRD Directors Betty Anderson, Jerry Bruce, Steve Forseth, and Joan Sorley, also voted against the zoning change.