Coun. Jeremy Valeriote brought two motions to Gibsons council on Jan. 12, both relating to the George Hotel and Residences project.
One motion was to request that staff complete a review of the process that the George has gone through over the last three years, culminating in the zoning and Official Community Plan (OCP) bylaw amendments to allow for extra height, which council passed on Oct. 6, 2015.
“This is a big project for this town, I don’t think there’s an expectation that we got it perfect,” Valeriote said. “There’s a lot of grey area between the legal minimum and the absolutely perfect process.
“I’ve been told – informally – that it would make sense for our staff to do a bit of a review of how this went,” Valeriote continued. “What went well, what didn’t go well and what could be done in the future.”
Valeriote initially requested that the staff report come back in the first quarter of 2016, but this was amended to an end of July deadline because staff felt they would not have enough time to complete the request.
Coun. Silas White spoke in favour of Valeriote’s motion, saying it would be beneficial to have a review of the process for future staff and councils to reference.
“A development of this magnitude doesn’t come along very often, but I think that there is certainly value in taking advantage of this experience that the individuals we have working for us have gone through,” White said.
Chief administrative officer Emanuel Machado pointed out that the process is still far from being completed.
“This application was by far the largest process the Town has ever considered,” Machado said. “It’s led to substantial changes in how applications are dealt with. Having said that, I just want to point out that the process is still ongoing, so there are some limitations to the total scope.”
Valeriote’s motion was carried unanimously. The staff report is due back by the end of July.
Machado said staff are currently working on a report for a development permit for form and character, and seeking volunteers for the Winegarden Park advisory committee to provide advice on changes to Winegarden Park as a result of the development of the George Hotel project.
There is not yet a timeline for when ground will be broken.
Gibsons resident Judith Bonkoff spoke during an inquiry period to ask that staff consider the article “George public hearing process flawed,” which criticizes Town staff for “the litany of problems including ill-defined deadlines, no clear rules, and arbitrary decisions.”
The article was published on the Gibsons Alliance of Business and Community website (www.gibsonsalliance.ca).
Corporate officer Selina Williams responded to Bonkoff by saying the article was seriously flawed.
“It’s 99 per cent inaccurate,” Williams said. “It’s erroneous in a number of its assertions. Key facts appear to have been intentionally left out in order to confuse the reader.”
Valeriote’s other motion of the night was to ask that staff prepare a report on the options and legal constraints for future OCP amendments.
“Personally I feel like if you give a height guidance but then have a bunch of exceptions, it starts to lose some of its meaning,” Valeriote said.
White was the only councillor with an objection to Valeriote’s motion. White said he was concerned that the OCP could get “watered down.”
“I’m more comfortable with just sticking to the OCP, personally,” White said. “And sticking to the fact that, yes, there can be exceptions to the OCP, but only in very exceptional circumstances.”
The motion was carried with only White opposed. There is no specific deadline for the staff report. Currently there is only one OCP amendment in the works – for the proposed Seaglass development.
The next council meeting is scheduled for Jan. 19. A meeting for the public to give input on the Town’s upcoming budget was scheduled for Feb. 9 at the committee of the whole meeting earlier that day.
