Gibsons council has given second reading to the zoning and Official Community Plan amendments for a 40-unit supportive housing project at the old RCMP property on School Road.
The proposal, which followed an announcement in March that the federal government was willing to transfer the land to the Town of Gibsons under the Surplus Federal Real Property for Homelessness Initiative, has generated some heated opposition and a lot of community debate.
BC Housing is acting as the proponent for application, and will fund the $14-million construction cost as well as operating costs to have the facility run under a contract with RainCity Housing.
Councillors voted 4-1 in favour of second reading, and holding a public hearing, at their Sept. 3 regular meeting, after reviewing a planning department report summing up comments from recent public information meetings, and responses to referrals to several groups and agencies.
The report said of the 313 comments from the public, including forms and Post-it notes, submitted during information sessions in late July, 28 per cent supported the project, 42 per cent opposed it and 29 per cent were neutral or undecided.
Director of planning Lesley-Anne Staats said those numbers were similar to what BC Housing heard during smaller, focus group style sessions held in the spring.
Supporters spoke to the need in the community and comments in opposition focused on the “low barrier” nature of the housing, concerns about neighbourhood impact and the location being too close to Gibsons Elementary School.
The referral responses included comments from School District No. 46.
Board chair Pammila Ruth wrote, “[The board] believes that supporting all of our community members is critical. Our particular focus is necessarily on our students and their families.... Therefore, we would expect to be assured that our students’ safety will be the highest priority for this development.”
Sunshine Coast RCMP responded that it “supports initiatives to reduce homelessness and support harm reduction. Safe and affordable housing is important for residents on the coast and the RCMP will support safety around any housing initiatives.”
The fire department, Vancouver Coastal Health, the Sunshine Coast Homelessness Advisory Committee and Community Services also submitted referrals in support.
The only referral group to raise significant objections was the O’Shea-Oceanmount Community Association.
In two lengthy responses it said there was a high “risk” associated with moving ahead with the project and suggested “a reset of the process in order to fully consult with the citizens and in particular those most affected by the facility.”
Coun. Aleria Ladwig, the only councillor to vote no at second reading, said she favours supportive housing in Gibsons and praised the previous council for “recognizing the opportunity that the RCMP building represents to our community,” but questioned the process that led to it becoming the site for the BC Housing project.
“By giving the community a say in how we do this and where we do it and do it together I think they’re more likely to accept it and be more collaborative in embracing this project,” she said.
Ladwig noted that BC Housing has purchased its own land for similar projects, including Hightide in Sechelt.
Ladwig was briefly interrupted by applause from project opponents in the gallery as she went on to say she’d like to see the Town work with the federal government to strike an agreement for a different kind of affordable housing project on School Road and then work with BC Housing to find property for supportive housing.
“I do support having a supportive housing project here in Gibsons – I think it’s incredibly important,” she said. “For me, I just want to understand why it is that we can’t look at doing this somewhere else.”
Mayor Bill Beamish said he wasn’t going to second guess the previous council’s effort to acquire the property and lease it to BC Housing. “I think it was a good decision, I think it was an important decision for the community,” he said.
Beamish also pointed out that School Road is an area earmarked for higher density with one new apartment block currently under construction and noted that there’s already a lot of “higher end housing” ready to move forward.
“But we need to also take care of the affordable housing and we also need to take care of the supportive housing to have a full picture.”
Asked by councillors Stafford Lumley and Annemarie De Andrade whether BC Housing or RainCity Housing could say anything about the people living at Hightide in Sechelt or being considered for tenancy in Gibsons that might allay fears in the community, RainCity’s Nick Gaskin said the agency has to be conscious of privacy.
Gaskin said, however, that of the 40 tenants, only about 25 per cent use drugs or alcohol at all.
“Of that 25 per cent who are using substances, I would put a handful of people – five, maybe – where we would classify it as problematic substance use,” Gaskin said.
“I hope that gives you a snapshot of the folks that we work with on a day-to-day basis and that addiction is not prevalent across homelessness on the Sunshine Coast. This rhetoric of homelessness and addiction going hand-in-hand is wrong and quite frankly harmful.”
A public hearing on the project will be held Oct. 8 at 6 p.m. at High Beam Dreams in Gibsons.
