Editor:
If you’ve ever been to Paris, you’ll appreciate that official community planning, limits to building heights, and a lasting and unique character can be the most valuable assets a place can have.
Paris has more than a beautiful waterfront, but it is one of the few places in the world where building height limits have retained a special “je ne sais quoi” charm for centuries.
It was recently named as the top tourist destination in the world with 32.3 million tourists in 2014. Cha-ching. For everyone in town.
Paris does have a downtown where tall buildings have been allowed to go unchecked, but international tourists aren’t the least bit interested in going there.
They want the place with the height restrictions and the special character.
Gibsons is far from hosting 32.3 million visitors, and The George is not a skyscraper, but the erosion of standards in the OCP is just the beginning of our town becoming just like any other town.
Now that council has approved this behemoth, it’s going to be pretty difficult to turn down other developers who can’t build their dream investment “without going over the limits” set by the Gibsons OCP in place when the project was first suggested. They’ll come rushing in to cash in on the promise – the dying myth of our quaint little town, all the while destroying the goose that laid the golden egg.
The beautiful, quaint view of Gibsons Harbour that we all have – that is part of the richness we all share – will be stolen from every single person who lives in Gibsons, and whoever visits Gibsons.
Forever.
So that one person, one business can profit. The George is a Pandora’s box. Once opened, there’s no turning back.
Caitlin Hicks, Roberts Creek
