Editor:
Gibsons council’s Sept. 1 agenda stated that director of planning Andre Boel would report verbally on “potential dates for a public information meeting on the George Hotel and Residences Development Application.”
His actual report included a date for the information meeting, and also the unannounced addition of a public hearing date. Council adopted both dates without discussion.
The public information meeting was supposed to be citizens’ opportunity to have their outstanding questions answered by councillors, staff, and the project’s engineers and hydrological, geotechnical and environmental professionals. Many people had also hoped to question the professionals who peer-reviewed the proponent’s previous reports. The meeting would provide answers and information to the public, while apprising council and staff of outstanding questions, concerns, and unresolved technical issues, so these could be addressed prior to setting the public hearing date.
Not only is the meeting set during the supper hour, precluding commuters and families from participating, but we now learn that the entire council will be absent, attending the Union of BC Municipalities convention! How convenient. The hottest issue in living memory – and no one from council will be there to answer questions or hear what answers we may get from the professionals. It boggles the mind. And I wonder: will we get answers? Or just more promotion?
Myriad unanswered questions remain about aquifer impacts, geotechnical stability, toxic contamination, traffic impacts, public access, road privatization, Winegarden Park impacts, and so much more. Yet council seems bent on fast-tracking this project and avoiding public discourse. We’re nowhere near being ready for a public hearing on this project!
The scheduling of the “information” meeting to exclude council and inconvenience the public, and the way the public hearing date was slipped in under the radar, are typical of this council’s continuing disregard for the people they serve.
Katie Janyk, Gibsons
