The following letter was sent to Gibsons council and copied to Coast Reporter.
As a descendent of the early Finnish settlement in and resident since 1955, I want to express how disappointed I was in the way the Gibsons council handled the Seaglass development proposal (Coast Reporter, July 19).
The meeting started late with the planner giving his review of the proposal. It did sound like he had spent a good deal of time on it, but some of the points were a little muddy. Council then voiced concerns on the development and it's "shortfalls."
I was quite amazed at Coun. Dan Bouman's diatribe on cedar as a viable substitute as this would definitely kill the eco-friendly, low-maintenance aspect of the building and completely change its gorgeous, coastal maritime feel. Check any of the buildings from the sea-walk and see how wood stands up on our coastal environment.
I am not sure that the quote by Coun. Charlene SanJenko is quite correct either as I understood that she was speaking about the willingness to look to the future rather than try to keep the town living in the past.
The height variance and problems with the front and rear sea-walk beautification were also brought up, but what concerned me most was that the developers were not given a chance to talk or explain why they designed the project the way they did in order to create such an eco-friendly landmark.
I saw the architect put up his hand to explain something and be completely ignored as Mayor Wayne Rowe deemed it was time to close the meeting. Totally non-democratic and dissapointing how our council handled the whole affair.
Come on Gibsons, nostalgia is great in its place, but not at the expense of economic growth, environmental care and the development of a beautiful asset to our town.
Douglas Campbell
Gibsons
