Gibsons council praised the proponents of a Marine Drive commercial-residential development for a conscientious revision of their project. Council’s one complaint? The colour.
At its May 7 meeting, Gibsons council approved a form and character development permit for a six-housing-unit, one commercial space development at 456-458 Marine Drive (next to the Bayview Szechuan Chinese Restaurant), with the caveat that its colour palette be revised with brighter colours.
The project is heavily revised from what came forward last fall, when nine housing units and one commercial space were proposed and the proponent was asking for a height variance.
Council voiced concern about the scale and height of the project, and asked for the height to be reduced. The public wrote in with concerns ranging from traffic, congestion, lack of parking, impact to business, and were against the height variance.
The new proposal does not require a height variance – the Marine Drive-facing side has been reduced from two storeys to one. No parking variance is required either – the developer will pay $30,000 in lieu of one parking space.
The project is to have underground parking and a car elevator. To warn of cars exiting the parkade, the project proposes an annunciator on the parkade door to warn people on the sidewalk with sound and light.
Council also included a condition that the staircase between Marine Drive and the seawalk on the northeast side be a public access.
Also approved was a flood exemption to relax the waterfront setback from 15 metres to three metres.
– With files from Keili Bartett, Jordan Copp
