We are requesting that council consider updating the land boundaries of the restrictive building covenant on our property at 3295 Compton Road thus enabling us to meet the intent of the restrictive covenant. The current building envelope does not reflect what has occurred previously on the property or the sensitive ecosystems affected. There has been much development of the property from the prior three owners. From the photos submitted you can see extensive fill sites that are outside of the existing building envelope. Much of the land within the building envelope contains untouched and sensitive ecosystems and is the entire rocky knoll at the highest point of the land. It would preserve the entire natural and intact habitat remaining if we were allowed to build our house and workshop on existing areas of fill. For these reasons we are requesting the boundaries of the building envelope be changed to cover some of the existing fill sites as follows:
• The large area of fill in the middle of the property.
o This area will contain our house, workshop, parking, existing garden shed, the septic tanks, water cisterns, and our organic gardens.
• The area of fill surrounding the septic field.
o This area was cleared, blasted, and filled by a prior owner.
o We would like to have a small area for chickens here
• The area of fill in the southern lower corner of the property.
o This area looks like a big gravel pit and is our driveway into the property.
o We would like to plant some fruit trees in this area and since this is a southern exposure with minimal wind it would also be ideal for a greenhouse.

After discussing this issue with staff, we have decided to request an area that will take into account all of our proposed uses and not just our house and workshop. We did not realize that a chicken coup, fruit trees, vegetable gardens, greenhouses and small garden sheds, may be considered improvements and should occur within the building envelope.

If council agrees to this in principle we will have another survey completed that clearly outlines the agreed upon areas and we will present this to you in two weeks time for your consideration.

In closing we would also like to request that if council agrees in principle to what we have proposed that we be allowed to apply for a building permit for our workshop which is scheduled to begin construction on June 3. When we made plans for the construction of the workshop we had thought that it was within the existing building envelope and we contacted the municipality immediately following our survey that indicated otherwise.

Thank you for your time

May 26, 2006
District of Highlands
Dear Mayor and Council:

Re: Amendment to attachment for the building covenant at 3295 Compton road

We are building a Straw Bale/ Cob demonstration home incorporating solar PV, solar hot water, wind power, rain water catchment, grey-water reuse, composting toilet and organic gardens into a single family home. Our goal is to be a reasonable and respectable model for sustainable building within the community both locally and globally. There has been enormous support for our project from individuals, organizations, and the media for this project both within the Highlands and the whole of Victoria.

This property has a building covenant that was initiated by the CRD and is now under the control of the Highlands. We are requesting that the Highlands alter the area affected by this restrictive covenant…not the actual covenant.

MAP 1: Our survey performed April 12, 2006 shows the location of the building envelope. Our proposed buildings are a 1750sqft home and a 230sqft woodworking shop. These proposed sites have been approved by Scott Currie our geotechnical engineer. Until this survey was performed we had assumed that the proposed site for the workshop was within the building envelope. We confirmed the date of this fill as 1988 from a stack of newspapers we found buried one foot down while hand digging a trench for the geotechnical engineer to see.

MAP 2: Sketch of heavily impacted and filled areas. (For information purposes only) Over the years there has been enormous impact to areas outside the envelope. The majority of the building covenant covers the most undisturbed eco-systems on the land complete with Arbutus, Garry oaks, Douglas Fir, Shooting Star, White Fawn lilies, and Camas to name a few. See attached photos of fill areas and the undisturbed area within the envelope.

We request that the area affected by the building covenant be altered so that we may completely build our proposed home and woodworking shop on areas that have been previously filled rather than on the pristine area indicated in the existing building covenant.

We strongly support the intention of the building covenant and wish to limit our impact on the land. We feel that all parties are best served by amending the attachment to the restrictive covenant to allow us to build on previously impacted areas while protecting the undisturbed area. We also wish to have a small reduction in the overall size of the building envelope.

Sincerely,

Gord and Ann Baird