Mayor Rob Douglas and councillors Christopher Justice and Chris Istace opposed the motion.

At the May 6 council meeting, staff raised the risk of traffic accidents as motorists stop to turn left into Oak & Vine Estate on busy Lakes Road.

George Farkas, general manager of planning, development and community services, said the posted speed limit on Lakes Road is 60 kmh, but studies show that 85 per cent of motorists travel closer to 80 kmh.

"Picture a situation...where there's a queue lining up of people waiting to make that left hand turn," he said. "The safety risk that engineers have identified is just by the nature of a left-hand turn you’re raising the risk pretty significantly of getting into an accident.”

The solution: have the proponent pay an estimated $25,000 for “shoulder pavement widening” to allow northbound motorists to move around those vehicles turning left.

A municipal engineering report said: “The objective will be to achieve a northbound bypass paved shoulder with a width of 2.5 m on the east side of Lakes Rd.”

But Findlay argued the $25,000 is excessive for a maximum of 10 wedding events per year and a maximum 80 attendees per event.

He also said there are other locations in the municipality, such as the Cowichan Rugby Club on Herd Road, where there are left-turn issues but where shoulder widening does not exist.

Caljouw cited the risks of speeding traffic and motorists southbound on Lakes Road turning left onto Jaynes Road : "If this (Oak & Vine Estate) is an identified risk, then we have a lot of them on this road."

Chief Administrative Officer Ted Swabey issued a warning: now that the traffic risk at Oak & Vine Estate has been raised at council, there are liability issues.

Taxpayers face the prospect of paying for the road improvement if the developer does not.

“When you have the opportunity, when you know there’s an issue and you have an application in front of you, it behooves us to actually do something about it.

“There is a philosophy of developer pay or there is a philosophy of taxpayers pay. And right now I’m seeing this divide. Some are talking about you don’t believe it’s a problem. Staff is telling you it is a problem.

“So, you’re saying that the taxpayers, if it is a problem, should pay for this improvement.

“That’s certainly a policy that you can have, but I don’t think it’s a good one to have because the next application that’s in is going to say the same thing, that this is too expensive for me to do and you’re going to be faced with the same situation, where you set a precedent….”

Listen to the full discussion: https://pub-northcowichan.escribemeetings.com/Meeting.aspx?Id=a754e60a-d7ea-443e-9e14-429e06af89f8&Agenda=Merged&lang=English&Item=54&Tab=attachments

A second public hearing on the controversial Oak & Vine Estate application will be held on May 20: https://cowichanvalleycitizen.com/2026/04/20/north-cowichan-to-hold-second-public-hearing-on-wedding-venue-proposal/