Greg Amos/Staff Writer
Just two weeks after council denied the four-storey, 109-unit Shoal Bay development in Lower Gibsons, proponent Grant Gillies has come back with a second application - and this time, the Town appears ready to take extra steps to avoid alienating citizens about the public process. "Throughout the next couple months, there's a significant ability of the public to have input," said Mayor Barry Janyk before a packed council chamber at Tuesday night's meeting.
"It will be up to the public to let us know when they've had enough public process," added Coun. Chris Koopmans.
After hearing from resident Suzanne Senger and Gillies, council nixed their original idea of kicking off the new process with a design charrette to be attended only by invitees of council and of Gillies.
Instead, the revised motion allowed for open public participation and directed staff to "work with Gillies to undertake a public process that allows for evaluation of site options at the Shoal Bay development."
Janyk said he'd like the first few sessions to take place "under the guidance of staff and the auspices of council."
During the inquiry period, the gallery made it clear they wanted council to be involved in the initial meetings. Gillies also asked that council be there "to make sure we're hearing the same thing," he said. "This will be a moment for input, versus criticism we'd like to present pictures of buildings that people might prefer," he said, adding he'd like to go towards a flat roof and drop the buildings' height by 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to 6.1 metres). "We'll probably have four different concepts, and the density might be 25 per cent less." Before the meeting, Gillies told Coast Reporter he's trying to "refine the project and see what has a bit more village character."
He said he still stands by both hydrogeologists' assessments that the development would not impact the aquifer, but added "with a smaller building, we probably won't even touch it, if we can reduce the load on it." Gillies also noted the mansard roof was something added to the original application only because Gibsons' official community plan (OCP) calls for it. At the meeting, council sought direction from municipal planner Chris Marshall over the role of the OCP in shaping the new application, in light of the fact it was last updated in 2004.
"It does seem we need to go back and revisit some of the things we did in our OCP," said Koopmans. "Four years ago, people were dead set against flat roofs."
Marshall told council the OCP is a guideline that's open to anyone's interpretation and noted the Local Government Act recommends updating the OCP every five years. Coun. Bob Curry suggested an OCP review could be in order, since "there's a lot of energy in the community right now to address it and make some changes," he said.
Marshall also noted public enthusiasm will be needed to update the 2001 harbourfront master plan and to help complete a harbour plan over the next two years, an idea Janyk apparently took to heart. "The energy in this community is extremely positive - let's ride that wave," he said. Coun. Gerry Tretick, however, wasn't surfing that swell of enthusiasm.
"I don't know what the confusion's about," he said. "I thought [the public process] was very clear."
Marshall informed the crowd that Gillies' new application is not an extension of the previous one - "it's a completely brand new process," he said, with a new $15,000 application fee.
Gillies said he'd upgrade the project's website (www.targetdevelopments.com) to make it into a forum for public input.
