More than 50 members of the public attended Town of Gibsons’ second community dialogue session of the council term Jan. 31 to discuss what they’d like to see in the budget and strategic plan. This was growth from the first session – two weeks earlier – that saw more than 40 people discussing housing needs and proposals for Upper Gibsons.
The dialogues are part of the new council’s commitment to reimagine public engagement for the municipality.
The two-hour budget session at Gibsons Public Market saw members of the public chiming in with concerns and questions, which staff and most of council were on hand to answer. Matters raised included: graffiti along the seawalk, seawalk lighting, derelict boats in the harbour (which apparently cost $1,000 a foot to dispose of as there’s no shipbreaking facility on the Coast, according to Coun. David Croal), protection of recreational use of the harbour, the odor from the sewage system (It’s not a treatment process issue, the quality of the effluent is “impeccable,” the new director of infrastructure said. As environmental and safety risks aren’t the concern and there are other repairs to be done, fixing the smell issue could be a couple years out.), the condition of Skyline Road, traffic calming for Park Road, a net zero carbon emissions plan, encouraging development as a means of revenue generation and lower taxes (the latter point was challenged), planting wildflowers, a dog park, Holland Lands future, an official community plan update, concerns with the tree bylaw, concerns over the amount of money spent on consultants, encouraging rental housing, considering climate adaptation and water management when it comes to development permits, need for a town operational review, and the town’s water licence (which the province recently upped to include Zone 3, which had previously been on regional water supply). There were also calls to use the skills of local volunteers in developing policy and strategy.
Gibsons has a budget survey open until Feb. 17 on its website.
The next community dialogue is Feb. 28, time and date to come, with Glassford Road on the agenda. See the town’s dialogue session notes on the municipality's website.
