Editor:
Almost 20 years ago, I was on the eternal Gibsons OCP committee that discussed “form and character.” Suggestions of a bylaw like Cannon Beach, Ore., requiring specific building form and character rules, were rejected.
Move the clock forward to today and take a walk from Armours Beach to the marina and see what we have. Mostly old, run-down, dilapidated buildings ready to fall down, a five-storey pink condo complex with a restaurant on top, a white cube that once was a cute yellow cottage, an old rusted marine way, the decaying old houses on property touted to save butterflies and tadpoles at public hearings, etc.
Don’t forget the suggestion to build a New England style bandstand matching the gazebo on the wharf that was rejected by council of the day. Instead we have a yellow and blue folding tent that sometimes works and requires Town staff on overtime to pull up and put down, all to preserve the view of whatever.
The George model looks like the new Bank of Montreal and new building across from the high school; is this our new “form and character?”
Thank you, Councillor Lumley, for taking a common-sense position and moving us toward a building complex that does have “form and character” that could become a model of style. I guess it’s all in the eye of the beholder or rejecter.
Arthur Geikie, Gibsons
