Almost 12 years to the day after becoming the director of planning for the Town of Gibsons, helping to transform the Town and winning world acclaim for his work, Chris Marshall is moving on.
Starting in September, Marshall will be taking his experience and expertise to the town of Huntsville, Ont.
Marshall characterized his career in Gibsons as being one part of an evolution that saw the Town go from being a backwater mill town to a destination for people of all sorts and lifestyles. He said the 2003 to 2005 official community plan (OCP) process was the biggest part of that.
"I think the OCP really was a turning point in the community. It got a lot of the key leaders and movers and shakers in the community starting to think about things like sustainability, and we started to look at the community in a different way," he said.
Other items high on his list of accomplishments include the Town's heritage inventory; Upper Gibsons neighbourhood plan; starting the harbour master plan, which is now set to move into phase two; the Gospel Rock neighbourhood plan, also nearing completion; zoning bylaw rewrites; an affordable housing policy; secondary suites bylaws; and mandatory bicycle parking for multi-family and commercial development bylaws.
"It seems like a little thing, but there are no little things, because it's a puzzle and every piece of that puzzle is important," he said, referring to the bicycle parking bylaw.
In addition to the larger planning issues, Marshall was also the approving officer for every subdivision, variance and development in the Town, which he described as a constant push and pull to move the Town forward while trying to maintain a high standard that council and the community supports.
"It's sort of expecting a higher quality of things, not just accepting what comes through the door. It's easy to just say 'yes.' It's hard to say 'no,'" Marshall said. "It's this constant fight to uphold a standard, and you have to have the support of council."
In October 2009, Marshall, along with the Town of Gibsons, took two of the top prizes at the International Awards for Liveable Communities, which Marshall said was "like a peak" in his career. The Town was named the world's most liveable community with a population under 20,000 and awarded the Planning for the Future Award, beating out towns and cities of all sizes around the world.
Winning those awards, combined with a desire to be closer to his family in his native Ontario, made Marshall consider the opportunity in Huntsville.
He said the future of Gibsons remains bright.
"I think it's healthy for communities to have the change in terms of a new perspective. Whoever they hire is going to come in with a different skill set, a different set of experiences and backgrounds, and they may take the community in a slightly different direction - not a bad, but a better direction," he said.
He added that credit for the success the Town has had is due to every staff and council member and "most importantly, the community as a whole that's been so active and involved."
