Editor:
The chainsaws are quiet today on Gospel Rock but that’s because every tree, shrub and flower for multiple hectares has been razed for the Touchstone development. Flattened by excavators, the area just cleared will grow nothing here again.
This comes after the discussion by a Town of Gibsons planning committee for the first phase of the development, and reported by this paper (“Committee says Gospel Rock design needs to be softened,” Sept. 20). The “softening” touches referred to – changing a “colour palette,” modifying some vertical lines and adding “green design elements” – will go a miniscule way to shifting the footprint of this self-proclaimed “green” development.
Mayor and council expressed concerns about the design more resembling something from Whistler. We should be so lucky; this design is 100 per cent “Bur-Quitlam” and will pack the same characteristics you find there, including near total cement-and-asphalt coverage, and incessant traffic.
Sadly ironic in this case is the blather professed by the Town of Gibsons on its own website, that the Town is a “key partner in helping to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and create complete, compact and energy-efficient communities.”
In the face of this commitment, Town staff are grossly negligent in sanctioning a development that will greatly increase the town’s GHG footprint. This will arise, not just because of the cement to be poured, but also because there is no provision for bus service, and tons of new GHG emissions will be produced annually because of added car traffic from hundreds of residents and visitors.
That this administration has sanctioned this plan as a “green development” shows how out of touch it really is.
Michael Maser, Elphinstone
