Dear Community, The “revised” version of the George Hotel project will be presented to Gibsons Council on Tuesday, November 12th, at 6 p.m. For those of you who could not make it out to the developer’s early morning public relations event last Saturday, Tuesday evening is your chance to hear the developer’s pitch. While the developer’s consultants are saying that this redesign has addressed the concerns raised by the Town and members of the community, we believe that this assertion is a stark misrepresentation of what has actually occurred, for the following reasons: Key issues raised by the Town (in quotation marks below) which we believe have still NOT been resolved include: 1. “OCP guidelines repeatedly refer to Village Scale and Character.” “The form of the development (massing, height) does not fit with the OCP re: scale and character and view protection.” Key problems include: · The proposed residential condominium building on the Hyak site is 98 feet tall. The current maximum allowable height on this site (CDA-1) is 26.2 feet. This proposed residential building is over 70 feet too tall. · The proposed hotel building is 125 feet high. The OCP maximum height for a tourist commercial development is 34.4 feet. This proposed building is over 90 feet too tall. · The massing of this development is three times larger than anything in the Town. · The proposed buildings “scale and character” is still urban and modern. 2. “‘Urban like’ density (is) significantly higher than anything anticipated in the OCP.” In fact, the revised design is more than 2.5 times larger than what the OCP anticipates. 3. “Winn Road is a highly used community area.” · Winn Road is public property. The developer wants to own this public land. · The latest version of the plan shows “pedestrian access” via Winn Road, yet nothing stops future residents of the complex from gating Winn Road and limiting public access. · The “view corridor” will be visible straight down Winn Road only. From every other angle in Town, this site will still be seen as a huge blocked-out mass of buildings. 4. “Significant impact on public spaces.” “The proposed building appears to have many effects on: height, setbacks, massing, scale, permeability, view protection and enhancement, sun/shadow impact and on village context and character.” The developer still wants to: · Privatize Winn Road (see above). · Privatize required setbacks all the way around the complex. · Privatize AIRSPACE, blocking residents’ and public views. · Privatize existing public parking. It will become underground PAY PARKING. · Build towers, which will shade out Winegarden Park, even on the sunniest afternoons. · Use Winegarden Park for storm-water management and emergency access. · Reduce limited open water views in front of the park by developing a marina over top of the last remaining open water space in Gibsons Harbour. · Take over portions of the crown foreshore and Gibsons Marina, which is currently leased to others. · Prevent the Town from completing the public beach path, by privately holding the waterfront, in contravention of the Harbour Plan. 5. Costs to the public: · Loss of village character · Loss of views—residential, and public · Loss of public lands (potentially millions in $ value) · Impacts on natural environment and enjoyment of Winegarden Park by shading from buildings and lack of setbacks on the park boundary. · Loss of public water lease · Increased traffic congestion · Loss of free public parking 6. And don’t forget the aquifer. This application still does NOT include a hydrogeological assessment of potential impacts of this project on our drinking water supply. Please come to the meeting in Council Chambers on Tuesday at 6 p.m. to hear what the proponent is telling the Town.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 00:00:14 +0000
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