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Letter: The George’s development permit has lapsed – now we have an opportunity

'We at GWDA are not opposed to a hotel and condominium project on the waterfront but we object to this proposal because it allows a height over three times our Official Community Plan (OCP), the loss of a public roadway, undue threats to our aquifer and the destruction of numerous trees in Winegarden Park.'
George site

Editor:

We are the Gibsons Waterfront Defence Association (GWDA), a group of citizens working to protect our waterfront, and we are writing to inform all our fellow citizens that there has been a major change in the town of Gibsons, a change that, though of great import, has caused hardly a ripple. 

The event was the June 1 lapse of the George Hotel and Residences Development Permit, which council extended for 24 months two years ago, to accommodate Klaus Fuerniss Enterprises’ request for an extension, due to “financial and market conditions.” 

We at GWDA are not opposed to a hotel and condominium project on the waterfront but we object to this proposal because it allows a height over three times our Official Community Plan (OCP), the loss of a public roadway, undue threats to our aquifer and the destruction of numerous trees in Winegarden Park. 

Many Gibsons citizens are not aware that the Town agreed to allow the developer of the George to build with zero setbacks and to use a 10 feet wide by 270 feet long section of Winegarden Park. The resulting excavation will destroy a stream and all the park’s trees along its southern border. Some of these trees are home to the park’s resident birds and are over 60 feet tall with trunks more than two feet in diameter at waist height. 

All this was allowed to enable a private developer to build an overly massive project. 

But now the development permit has expired. Should the owner of this project reapply, we urge the present mayor and council to reconsider the decisions made in 2016 and ensure that this project’s form and mass conform to our OCP and is built without destroying any trees in our beautiful Winegarden park. 

Harriet Hunter 
Gibsons Waterfront Defence Association