Council will not pursue a referendum on the Catherwood Road annexation application, instead choosing to wait for the completion of a study of the South Revelstoke area.
The move puts to an end, for now, of a two-year process to have two properties totalling 53 acres in size annexed to the city.
The property owners hoped to join the land to the city to facilitate future development.
The matter came in front of council at their meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 28. A few days earlier, Peter Fassbender, the Minister of Community, Sports & Cultural Development, wrote a letter to the city denying them permission to hold a referendum saying the city wouldn't be able to meet a March 4 deadline.
Instead, he recommended they wait for the results of a $60,000 diagnostic inventory study that is being funded by the province, city and Columbia Shuswap Regional District.
On Tuesday, councillor Scott Duke introduced a motion to pursue an extension on the deadline to hold a referendum, but the motion died when no one seconded it.
Council chose to hold a referendum after 577 people signed a petition to stop it — only 11 more signatures than required.
The city asked for an extension to hold the referendum on April 29, but Fassbender instead said the city should wait until a diagnostic inventory of the South Revelstoke area is conducted.
"It might be disappointing to some members of the community, but it would be prudent of us to proceed in the way Minister Fassbender has recommend in his letter," said coun. Gary Sulz.
Only four councillors were in the room for the debate. Mayor Mark McKee and coun. Connie Brothers recused themselves from the debate, while coun. Aaron Orlando was absent from the meeting.
The diagnostic study of the area will look at existing services and governance and will include public consultation. The goal will be to guide the future of the neighbourhood and future annexation applications.
Fassbender said the property owners could apply for annexation again after the study is completed.
Evans called Fassbender's decision "extremely disappointing," adding the decision could delay the annexation by five years, during which residents could debate the best use of the land.
"It seems odd to me the minister would not approve the simple extension of the time for the assent vote to be held that the city has asked for," wrote Evans in an e-mail. "I am wondering how he has come to this decision and who he may have spoken to in order to reach this decision, a decision that denies the citizens of Revelstoke the opportunity to express their opinions regarding this matter and one that will adversely effect the economic development of Revelstoke over the next five to 10 years by not allowing this land to potentially be annexed into the City of Revelstoke for future use."
The Review contacted Evans prior to council's decision.
Andy Parkin, who helped lead the opposition to the annexation, said he was glad there wasn't going to be a referendum.
"In a way I would have liked to see the referendum go ahead and see them get hammered because I thought they're completely out of touch," he said.
Loni Parker, the director for Area B Rural Revelstoke, welcomed Fassbender's decision, saying the diagnostic inventory study will allow the city and regional district the chance to "move forward based on factual information rather than just the wishes of couple of land owners."
She said she was a "bit surprised" by the decision, but was more surprised the annexation process even got this far given the fact the study was proposed long before the alternative approval process began.
Parker argued the community spoke its mind by signing the counter-petition.
"The city could have put the brakes on this right at the beginning to say we're in discussions with the province and CSRD," she said. "That's how we've generally done things in the past. This whole process that's just gone on is quite bizarre to me."