Back in June we acknowledged the Town of Gibsons as “a leader on the housing file,” but this week there’s cause to worry that lead might be in danger of slipping away.
Gibsons council’s committee of the whole had a chance Oct. 17 to offer enthusiastic endorsement of a project that could create 40 much-needed rental units on the Town-owned Charman Creek Lands in partnership with the Sunshine Coast Housing Society.
They did support taking the next steps toward getting the project off the ground, but in a go-slow sort of way. The main rationale was the negative reaction from some residents of the O’Shea/Oceanmount neighbourhood. Mayor Wayne Rowe said what the Town heard at an open house on the project was “not encouraging,” and he’s right.
Looking over the feedback forms (available as part of the Oct. 17 agenda package at gibsons.ca), mixed in with many in support are plenty of other comments along the lines of “this is not fair for the present residents,” “please, not in our forest,” “I am worried that this high density would affect my property value in the negative,” and “do not jeopardize the future for some quick-fix Band-Aid solution.”
We’ve also seen neighbourhood resistance in Sechelt to a proposal for a desperately needed homeless shelter.
We can confidently predict some resistance to future projects that look to take advantage of a willingness to consider infill density in our municipal cores, or the areas the SCRD is proposing to designate under Official Community Plan changes.
Neighbourhood concerns can’t be dismissed out-of-hand and public consultation that is, in Mayor Rowe’s words, “early, often and effective” should always be the rule.
It should come, however, with the expectation that a decision will have to be made, and on urgent issues like the housing crisis, it will have to be made soon.
We still think Gibsons is the leader among local governments when it comes to concrete action to address what is, arguably, the most significant issue facing the Sunshine Coast. But we fear that with an election year looming and plenty of controversial issues already on their plates, councillors may not want to brave the storm that bold action may bring on.
It may not be fair that the federal and provincial governments have abandoned the field when it comes to housing, but after more than a decade of studies, strategic plans and talk, the time has come to take the next step and put a shovel in the ground to show the Sunshine Coast a project like this will work.
If you build it, others will follow.
