News
The Gospel Rock Refinement Working Committee presented their revised neighbourhood development plan for public input on June 28. Close to 300 people came out to hear the details and give their initial response.
Chris Marshall, Town of Gibsons Director of Planning, oulined the revised plan, and the planning process. Comment sheets were made available for feedback, to be returned within a two-week response period.
After this first public input period of two weeks, the revised plan will be presented to council, go through another period of revision, then back to the public for response, before it's final presentation to council. The process could take four or five months.
Chris Marshall emphasized the importance of the neighbourhood plan as the way for the public to gain control over development of the area. No development can move forward until the neighbourhood plan has been formally accepted by council and become bylaw. The current zoning of the area only allows for single-family lot development, which means that without a neighbourhood plan the only avenues for town control of the area is by using covenants, or by outright purchase of the lands.
Marshall reported that the biologist peer review they had conducted indicated that the waterfront area was not connected environmentally to the area above the road, and was not a top priority for conservation.
The revised plan included several key items:
- waterfront development for 12 large lot, single family units
- cluster development of approximately 757 high-density town home units
- wildlife corridors
- extensive walking and biking paths
- service roads to the north
- formalized park and natural areas
- alternative energy sources infrastructures
The Gospel Rock area currently spans 138 acres; all 14 properties are privately-owned by 13 property owners. The largest of these properties is 46 or 47 acres with waterfront and views.
According to Marshall, the GR neighbourhood plan must meet criteria of economic, social and environmental sustainability as outlined by the SMART plan adopted by the Town of Gibsons in 2005. The needs of the municipality, community and property owners need to be balanced in any plan.
Through the course of the meeting, as Marshall promoted the high-density cluster development, the priorities of the municipality became clearer: reduce infrastructure costs, increase the tax base, reduce expenses such as park management. "Wendy Gilbertson (Director of Parks and Cultural Services) has told me it is too expensive to maintain any more parks," said Marshall.
When time came for the public response at the meeting, there was a clear expression of frustration. Many spoke of the long process to get to this point, one in which the public had repeatedly indicated they did not want development on the waterfront and wanted protection of the natural area. Whether as a park, a heritage site or through any kind of covenants, the majority of the meeting attendants wanted the area protected and not developed.
Many spoke of the environmental, cultural and spiritual importance of this area, and the need to keep it as a green space.
Areas of conern brought up by the public were:
Strain on existing town services.Concern was expressed over the increased demand on public services, such as the limited lifespan of the Gibsons aquifer. Sewage issues were also discussed.
Traffic. Many spoke to existing traffic issues and concern for injecting another 750 to 1200 cars in the area, as well as within the rest of the town and the route to the ferry. A more robust public transit plan was needed to make this high-density development viable. Current issues with heavy volume on single-lane Gower Point Road, with no pedestrian way, and linking to Pratt Road were repeatedly raised.
High-density development.Several speakers spoke to making high-density development a priority... but not in the Gospel Rock area.
Waterfront protection. There was much discussion of motions previously passed in council giving council the right to protect the waterfront... the indicated choice from previous public consultation.
Conservation, environment. Dan Bouman, from the SC Conservation Association, presented a letter from the CDC (Conservation Data Centre) Ecology program which identified both of the main ecosystems in Gospel Rock, the waterfront and area above the road as "Priority 2: Imperilled and Imperilled to Vulnerable". The CDC recommended actions include "Private Land Stewardship, Ecosystem Protection, Planning, Inventory and Monitoring". This CDC letter (available on the SC Conservation Society website ) also outlined possible avenues for the municipality to follow to protect the land.
Cultural heritage. Research indicating that the Gospel Rock area had been used as a burial ground fuelled a proposal that the town seek funding to declare the area a Heritage site.
Funding for planning. Through questions from the floor, Marshall revealed that in 2005 the land owners had donated $150,000 to the planning process, another $25,000 for the surveying involved in the previous Plan A and Plan B options, and that the current owners had donated $75,000 to the planning process. Several speakers spoke to the possible conflict of interest with this source of funding.
Since the meeting, the owners of the waterfront area of Gospel Rock have sent a letter to the Refinement Committee indicating their interest in selling the waterfront lands, for aproximately $4 million. The Coast Reporter, on July 16th, reported the response of Barry Janyk (council representative on the committee) to the possible town purchase: “That might be an avenue that could be pursued, but I certainly don’t want to use taxpayers’ dollars to fund any additional parks in this community.....The community ultimately, if council is going to go in that direction, is going to have to say ‘yes, we support it, and here’s how and here’s how much’ because the Town itself certainly can’t afford to purchase that.”