An ambitious development worth as much as $1 billion in Youbou has been given the green light by the Cowichan Valley Regional District.

The CVRD's board granted unanimous approval, with one abstention, for a rezoning application that will allow private company Youbou Lands to proceed with a 1,950-unit housing development that would transform the town of roughly 1,200 residents.

"There were no questions," said Klaus Kuhn, CVRD director for Youbou and Meade Creek. "I was actually amazed. It just went, 'Bang, bang, bang, done.'"

Youbou is located on the north shore of Lake Cowichan, about a 90-minute drive from Victoria. It was historically a sawmill town -- the community's name comes from a combination of the names of the former general manager of the Empire Lumber Company, C.C. Yount, and the company's president, whom history recalls solely as Mr. Bouten. But the only mill in town closed in 2001, putting 200 people out of work.

Youbou Lands, a private group consisting of Thomas Kreilein and three business partners, bought the land from former owner TimberWest in 2006 and has been working to get zoning approval for the development ever since.

"It was a very lengthy process," said Kreilein. "The province had the file for eight or nine months before they signed it off."

Wednesday's approval from the CVRD means Youbou Lands can proceed with the project, although some of the land will have to be remediated before construction can start.

"Lots of the work will start now," said Kreilein. "What we would like to do is make Youbou a destination for tourists."

The development will include a new town centre, a resort and affordable housing units. It will also include a business park, boat launch and marina, which will be donated to the non-profit Cowichan Lake Community Forest Co-operative, said Kreilein. He pegged the value of the development at between $750 million and $1 billion.

"It's a nice property," he said. "It's on the lake. I think there will be quite a few young families, and we'll cater to retired people for sure."

The first phase of construction -- just over 300 single-family homes -- should begin in about a year, said Kreilein. The complete project will be built over a 15- to 20-year period.

Kreilein estimated that the price on a three-bedroom starter home in the development would be about $270,000.

"If you were to take your average house in the Duncan area, I think we will be on average about $50,000 or $60,000 lower in price -- maybe more," he said.

"But everything depends on the market. Who knows where we'll be a year from now?"

Kreilein and his partners will spend their own money on the project, and will not borrow money from banks.

"I'm somewhat old-fashioned when it comes to that," he said.

"I do the things that I can pay for."

Kraus said some of his constituents expressed concerned about the development, which would quintuple Youbou's population to 6,000 residents.

"One of the main concerns was obviously traffic, and then there were some people that didn't want any change in Youbou -- they'd rather leave it at the size that it is now," he said. "It's a catch-22. I wouldn't mind leaving it either, but it is not possible because you don't have any young people here."

dkarp@tc.canwest.com