The Town of Gibsons isn’t done just yet with changes to zoning and the Official Community Plan (OCP) in the Gospel Rock area.
Council gave unanimous approval to third reading of the zoning changes needed for Greenlane Homes to build Gospel Rock Village at its June 5 meeting, with final adoption expected soon.
Councillors are also now considering changes to the OCP to spell out form and character guidelines for the development.
Lesley-Ann Staats, director of planning, presented recommendations to council’s committee of the whole June 19 that would see the creation of Development Permit Area (DPA) 10 as part of the Gospel Rock Neighbourhood Plan area.
The original Gospel Rock Neigh-bourhood Plan requires council to draft form and character guidelines in conjunction with any rezoning that allows commercial development.
DPA 10 would bring together elements of existing DPAs for commercial property in Upper Gibsons and multi-family housing developments in the Town.
“Rather than applying two different form and character DPA guidelines,” Staats’ report says, “one new DPA for commercial and multi-family development in the Gospel Rock Village site is proposed.”
Included in the six pages of guidelines are requirements to follow “West Coast design elements,” use local materials as much as possible, have “varied building forms and rooflines,” use underground parking, and include electric vehicle charging stations and public art.
Coun. Silas White suggested a change to have the public art guidelines put an emphasis on Skwxwú7mesh Nation art.
“It would be valuable to highlight the Skwxwú7mesh Nation and to use this to encourage more Skwxwú7mesh art,” he said. “When I went to the swearing in at the Skwxwú7mesh Nation council, I was asked to be witness for the Town of Gibsons. One thing I was able to proudly say was that one of the great additions to our town in the last couple of years has been the introduction of Skwxwú7mesh art at Gibsons Elementary, the Gibsons Public Market and the Gibsons Public Art Gallery.”
At the regular council meeting that evening, councillors voted to have staff draft the necessary bylaw amendments. Those amendments will require a public hearing, but that won’t be scheduled until the proposed bylaw gets first reading.
