Gibsons council endorsed proposed changes to the residential Seaglass development slated for 458 and 462 Marine Drive at the June 16 meeting.
Developer Tim Langenberg of Salish Sea Environmental Enterprises Ltd. (SSEE) presented council’s committee of the whole with a redesign of the Seaglass development that he said was more in keeping with the village feel of Gibsons than the original 2013 design.
“We want this to be a place where the public can come and feel welcome,” Langenberg told the committee.
He described the new look as dressed down.
“We put it in blue jeans,” Langenberg joked, in reference to the last proposal for Seaglass, which was rejected by the previous council as not compatible with the Harbour Area Plan. He said the design is now 98 per cent compatible with the harbour plan.
SSEE has put emphasis on being eco-friendly. The new design features the largest green wall in Canada. A green wall is a facade of indigenous plants; the current largest is at Vancouver International Airport.
As Langenberg pointed out, the new building proposal has won a favourable endorsement from the Advisory Planning Committee on its form and character.
This wasn’t enough for director of Planning André Boel, who said that the look and feel of the proposed building is “distinctly not West Coast” and would stand out as completely different.
Boel cited other concerns about the project. While the building complies with the official community plan (OCP) by being two storeys on the highest part of the lot, it exceeds the OCP on the lower side with six storeys.
Boel said he was concerned about the threat of sea level rise, and what that would mean for the project if it sees completion. He also expressed concerns over the intrusion onto public lands that SSEE is saying are necessary.
If built, the front of Seaglass would extend onto some of the publicly owned portion of Marine Drive.
The committee recommended council endorse the proposed architectural style of the Seaglass proposal and requested that staff proceed with preparation of reports and bylaws for first reading of OCP and zoning bylaw amendments based on the current design.
The committee also recommended that staff be directed to prepare an OCP amendment to change OCP policy 5.1.2 (number of storeys in the harbour area) by allowing development on this site to be two to three storeys at Marine Drive and six to seven storeys as seen from the lower side of the property.
Last, the committee recommended that the applicant be requested to work with staff to finalize the proposal for land exchange on the Marine Drive frontage.
Council endorsed these recommendations that night.
