Bike lanes
It looks like advisory bike lanes are going to be the preferred solution for Shaw Road.
Councillors at the committee of the whole meeting Dec. 6 voted to go ahead with the plan, which would preserve parking on one side of Shaw while creating lanes where cyclists have priority but that drivers can use when there are no bikes on the road.
The possibility of the advisory bike lanes was put forward after neighbourhood opposition to a plan for dedicated bike lanes that would have involved a total ban on parking.
Coun. Jeremy Valeriote was impressed, after seeing the detailed proposal. “I’m pleased to see the design as it is, and that we’ve got some consistency going all the way down Shaw Road,” he said. “I think it’s a good compromise and it offers some potential and opportunities for other areas.”
As well as voting to send the plan to full council for final approval, the committee amended the staff recommendation to specify two dedicated bike lanes will be added near the Shaw Road/Gibsons Way intersection where the road is wider.
The proposal will go to full council for approval in February 2017, along with plans to lower the posted speed limit on Shaw Road to 30 km/h.
Temporary use permit
Gibsons council’s desire to boost affordable rental stock came up against its density policy during debate on an application for a temporary use permit at 723 Dogwood Rd.
Property owners Monte and Lesley-Ann Staats are building a garden suite (carriage house) – one of the first approved under zoning changes that were supposed to create more affordable housing. They already have a secondary suite in the main house, and the Staats applied for the temporary use permit to keep the secondary suite after the garden suite is completed.
Several people, as well as the Sunshine Coast Housing Society and RainCity Housing (operators of the cold weather homeless shelter), wrote letters of support citing the benefit of keeping an affordable unit on the market.
Some neighbours also came out to the Dec. 6 council meeting to voice their opposition.
John Chittick said allowing the permit would create too much density in an area zoned as single-family residential, and could set a precedent. “This application for a temporary use permit could be the wedge to start a multi-family area, so we’re very much opposed to it.”
Mayor Wayne Rowe said he supports garden suites, but there need to be limits in neighbourhoods where people bought homes expecting low density. “Residents should be entitled to expect that there are certain rules that are put in place that they can rely on in their choice of a place to live.”
Councillors Jeremy Valeriote, Stafford Lumley and Silas White sided with the applicant.
“It’s so minimal. It’s hard to even call it densification, because we’re talking about making an allowance for three years for one single person to live in a basement suite affordably,” said White.
The temporary use permit was approved in a 3-1 vote, but with a two-year term instead of the usual three.
Operating funds
Gibsons councillors got a little good news on the financial front this week.
Director of finance Ian Poole told the committee of the whole Dec. 6 that a review of operating funds shows a trend toward a modest surplus.
The projected surplus for the general operating fund is nearly $150,000.
“We are enjoying a positive financial performance in 2016 and the reason for that is really the active real estate market and the building that’s generating a lot of permit fees and connections [to Town services],” Poole said.
The Town is also bringing in more than expected through business licences, its ICBC franchise, and grants from the provincial government.
The 2016 budget anticipated surpluses in the water and sewer funds to help build reserves for future infrastructure costs, and in the case of the water fund to get back on track after the expense of dealing with E. coli contamination in the system in 2014.
The water fund surplus is expected to be $109,207 higher than budgeted, while the sewer surplus is on track to be about $10,000 higher.
“This year the combination of additional consumption, and the rate increases along with additional connections as a result of building activity are all contributing to increased revenue,” noted Poole.
