The Town of Gibsons harbour plan is under way with no shortage of public involvement at the first public meeting Sept. 24.
"It was excellent. We had over 200 people show up," said Chris Marshall, director of planning.
Marhshall held the open house at the Gibsons Legion hall. Following a half-hour presentation on the plan, the history of planning around the harbour and climate change, Marshall asked attendees to break into groups of 12 to 15 to work co-operatively on a series of questions.
After the groups answered the six questions on what they would like to see the harbour look like, a representative from each group presented a summary of their group's answers and findings.
Marhsall said the exercise provided a lot of fruitful information with some common themes and different ideas about development around the harbour.
"The idea of retaining the small village character was repeated over and over. People want to see a continuous waterfront walkway and have that walkway improved and extended," he said. "Some people wanted to see a hotel and convention centre. Some people didn't. There was a general feeling that the building should be restricted in height along the waterfront to preserve views."
Marhsall said there were mixed feelings on the proposed harbour expansion.
"There were certain people who said 'no, I think it should stay the way it is" and other people saying "we need more spaces for people to moor their boats,'" he said.
Information gathered from the presentations and questionnaires will now be transcribed, put on the Town's website and used by the designed firm.
The next step in the process is the three-day design charette scheduled for Oct. 28 to 30, which will again have periods of public involvement. More information on the schedule for the charette will be released by the Town in the coming weeks.
