Editor:
So Mayor Rowe has offered the remainder of the Christenson property on Shaw Road to the Trellis Group to build their private facility. He has obviously chosen to disregard the covenant on the property, drawn up by Thor Christenson back in the 1990s, when he deeded his farm to the Town of Gibsons. The covenant states that the property must be used for “a public park, a public playground, a community centre, a public school, a police station, a library, a community health facility, or ‘not-for-profit’ seniors’ housing.” Unfortunately, the covenant does not state that “a community health facility” be public. This was probably because, at the time, all community health facilities were public.
I would never presume to get into a legal debate with Wayne Rowe, but he opened the door to a moral one when he stated in Coast Reporter that it was “equally important” that the wishes of the Christenson family be honoured. The language in the covenant suggests that the Trellis proposal would not honour those wishes. Clearly it was the family’s intent that whatever was built on their farm would benefit the town of Gibsons, not the business community. Thor and Mildred Christenson spent their last days in the Kiwanis Village Intermediate Care Home, a public facility. From all reports, they were very happy there. Surely this would have been their vision of a care facility, not a big, impersonal institution where profit is king and care is contracted out to the lowest bidder. I believe our local government has a moral obligation to honour the wishes of Thor and Mildred, and not allow this private-for-profit facility to be built on Christenson land.
Marilynn Green, Gibsons
