An economic report on the George Hotel and Residences was a springboard Tuesday for Gibsons Coun. Lee Ann Johnson to deliver a slashing critique of the proposal.
“I think what we’re seeing here is a proponent who is asking for the Town to contribute to his business,” Johnson said during council’s Sept. 30 committee of the whole meeting at the Gibsons Legion, attended by about 250 people.
The economic report, prepared by Coriolis Consulting Corp., estimated the proposed waterfront hotel and condo project would generate between $306,000 and $345,000 a year in property taxes to the Town, increasing Gibsons’ tax base by 13 to 14 per cent.
Presenting the report to council, director of planning Andre Boel said the project would also contribute $156,600 toward the affordable housing reserve fund, $100,000 in community amenities for Winegarden Park, $425,000 for the closure and sale of Winn Road, between $520,000 and $720,000 in infrastructure improvements and $1.28 million in development cost charges (DCCs).
The report, Boel said, “concludes that the hotel project will almost certainly make a net positive contribution to the Town.”
While Mayor Wayne Rowe said council was “not necessarily accepting any figures” contained in the report but was using them to “inform the discussion,” Johnson said she was “deeply concerned about this proposal for a number of reasons,” and zeroed in on key contribution amounts.
“An affordable housing contribution of $156,000 on a $72-million project is not significant and, in fact, is offensive to the people of the community who are so desperate for affordable housing,” Johnson said.
“I am equally upset,” she said, “about the suggestion that $100,000 is adequate to turn Winegarden Park into the front yard of a condo, a luxury waterfront condo.”
The proposed $425,000 price for Winn Road — based on an appraisal for the Town by D.R. Coell Associates — was also too low, she said, since the Town must use the funds to acquire a comparable access from Gower Point Road to the inner harbour.
“To accept $425,000 and then later expect taxpayers to pay additional money to put in the equivalent of what we’ve got right now — money beyond $425,000 — is not fair.”
Acknowledging the infrastructure improvements and DCCs would “be useful without a doubt,” Johnson added there was nothing special about them.
“They are the same contributions that any property developer anywhere in Gibsons would be expected to do.”
Johnson said there had to be a financial return for the Town-owned water lot in front of Winegarden Park “that is assumed to be part of this project,” but was not included in the report.
She also criticized the report for not including an analysis of the project’s minimum tax contribution if the hotel were to be converted to timeshares and reassessed as residential property, a trend that “is causing severe hardship in Ucluelet, Whistler and Tofino,” she said.
In response, Coun. Gerry Tretick said the affordable housing contribution was not based on the total project value, but only on the housing portion, and was comparable to what other developers had been expected to contribute.
More generally, Tretick warned that “nit-picking” could kill the project.
While there was “room for negotiating,” he said, “we have a waterfront that’s down to zero, we have infrastructure that needs replacing and we don’t know how to get the funds to do it.”
The report, Tretick noted, said the project does not have the financial capacity to provide a larger community amenity contribution package.
“Don’t pick this thing to death until we end up with another Shoal Bay property where you have nothing for the Town at all,” he told Johnson.
Coun. Dan Bouman echoed Johnson’s concerns about the sale price of Winn Road, calling the amount “way too low,” and said one of the report’s omissions was the impact of the project on other properties in Lower Gibsons.
Coun. Charlene SanJenko said all of the councillors’ comments were “an important step for staff to take note of, because one thing that hasn’t started happening yet is the negotiations.”
