Gibsons council adopted the Gospel Rock neighbourhood plan Tuesday night after the revised document passed public scrutiny with flying colours.
About 30 people attended the public hearing at Christ the King Church and the handful who spoke gave kudos to Mayor Wayne Rowe and council for bringing the contentious issue to a satisfactory finish.
Patricia Braithwaite, chair of the Friends of Gospel Rock Society, thanked council for removing waterfront development from the plan and including a provision to revisit outstanding issues such as density, aquifer and access after five years.
"I'm very grateful to you all and hope we can preserve as much of the natural beauty here as possible," Braithwaite said.
Brad Benson urged council to take its commitment seriously "and do the best you can, because that decision will be remembered well into the future," he said.
"And I appreciate your coming to this conclusion."
Judith Hammill called it "a pleasant surprise to have politicians listen to the people" and act on what they hear. "I feel like you are representing our issues," she said.
Hammill commended the mayor for taking the lead to protect the waterfront as green space, Coun. Gerry Tretick for his "analytic insight," and councillors Lee Ann Johnson and Dan Bouman "for their steadfastness."
And responding to Coun. Charlene SanJenko's invitation to the community, Hammill assured SanJenko that "we are prepared to work cooperatively with council to make this plan work in the best possible ways."
Hammill quoted John Ralston Saul on public politeness: "The citizen's job is to be rude - to pierce the comfort of professional intercourse by boorish expressions of doubt," and U.S. founding father Thomas Jefferson: "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."
"As you have seen, some engaged and vigilant citizens here subscribe to these beliefs but I thought it might be of some comfort for you to know that it's not always personal," she said.
Suzanne Senger quoted U.S. President Barack Obama's election victory speech, which included the line: "These arguments we have are a mark of our liberty."
"I'm really impressed with the decision you guys made - you totally blew us all out of the water," Senger told council. "There's a really strong, passionate, heartfelt, intelligent, informed community out here and we want to work together with you, so, yeah, we're up to the challenge."
Lola Westell, an outspoken opponent of the previous plan, simply thanked the mayor and council and, looking around the former licensed establishment, asked: "Can we get the disco ball going?"
Council gave third and final reading to the official community plan amendment during the regular meeting that followed.
