After third reading to amend 504 South Fletcher’s zoning to allow up to five units on the site of a single-family residence passed Sept. 6, Town of Gibsons council moved to review parking, sidewalk and boulevard improvements as well as Periwinkle Lane traffic impacts, should that development proceed.
Coun. Annemarie De Andrade made the second motion, after casting the lone vote in opposition to the rezoning. She cited concerns raised at the public hearing on the matter held earlier that same day regarding parking issues and a lack of sidewalks on South Fletcher.
”I think it is really unfair to the community and we have more developments coming. It puts an incredible pressure on residents, and we don’t have any solutions. We say yes, yes, yes and the residents pay the cost,” she said.
“It does change the nature of the community. I would much prefer to be dealing with this property as part of a [rezoning] plan for the area rather than a one-off,” Mayor Bill Beamish commented.
While expressing concerns about adding residential density in this neighbourhood, Coun. Aleria Ladwig stated “I support the rezoning because it is supported by the land use designation in the official community plan (OCP). I feel that it is important that people that invest in our community can have faith and confidence in Council to implement the plans we have in place. If we don’t like this OCP, we can do an OCP review. This is the plan we have now and people expect we will honour it.”
Staff noted that if the rezoning is adopted, a form and character development permit would be required. No development proposal was included with the rezoning request. It is yet to be determined if an apartment or townhouse style project will be planned and the number of onsite parking spaces would be contingent on the number of units included.
