The Town of Gibsons’ proposal to convert unused road rights-of-way to lots for affordable housing is not sitting well with some residents.
Matt Thomson of the Sunshine Coast Affordable Housing Society was before council Sept. 6 to give an update on the project and get approval for money from the affordable housing reserve fund. Thomson told councillors the $4,000 was needed to start a feasibility study, while a grant application to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation is fine-tuned and resubmitted.
Council voted in June to begin the process of turning five road dedications into residential lots: Harmony Lane at Franklin Road, Beach Avenue at Glen Road, Bals Lane at Seaview Road, Bals Lane at Glen Road, and Glassford Road at Gower Point Road.
The society is working with Click Housing to see if it’s practical to build small homes on those lots. Thomson said the Harmony/Franklin site seems most feasible, while Bals/Glen seems least likely to work.
In his accompanying report to council, director of planning Andre Boel wrote, “Some residents have expressed concerns about the physical suitability of the site and whether affordable housing would fit in with the rest of the [Heritage Hills] neighbourhood in terms of aesthetics and socially.”
Thomson and Boel met with a group of about 25 residents on Aug. 8.
“They expressed pretty serious concern over geotech issues on the two Bals Lane properties, as well as concerns over those being a wildlife corridor,” Thomson said. “There were other concerns expressed too, but that was the consensus among the neighbourhood: they see it as a greenway, a wildlife corridor, and given the issues of the slope, they thought that would be of major concern.”
Several residents of Heritage Hills also used the public inquiries period later in the meeting to outline their objections.
Glassford Road homeowner Mark Evans had just received notification of survey work that day. “You’ve just granted $4,000 for a study to allow our parklands to be given to someone else,” he said, calling it contrary to Town bylaws and the eco-assets strategy.
Vanessa Farr, who also lives in Heritage Hills, got a round of applause when she told council, “It doesn’t seem logical, it seems like it’s being imposed on us, and we also don’t feel that as the neighbourhood we are being involved in the process. We’re being informed after the fact, not beforehand.”
Farr said the focus should be on getting affordable housing units in new subdivisions, “instead of imposing them on existing neighbourhoods that are well-established and have green space and wildlife corridors.”
Mayor Wayne Rowe responded: “The main purpose of the feasibility study is to see what’s the cost of providing the services [to the lots], what’s the cost of developing the lots, and at the end of that, do we actually end up with a possible affordable housing unit for families?
“We don’t know the answers to those [questions] yet, it’s a work in progress,” Rowe added. “Absolutely no final decisions have been made, other than to look into the possibility of how we can provide affordable housing in our community.”
Other neighbourhood residents were also hoping to speak, but Rowe enforced the 10-minute time limit on inquiries so council could move on to a scheduled in-camera session.
