Gibsons’ advisory design panel chose not to support a development application for a five-unit residential development at 702 Gibsons Way at its Jan. 10 meeting.
The proponent is asking for an Official Community Plan (OCP) amendment to change the land use designation, a zoning amendment and a development permit for form and character.
The proposed lot is a long narrow plot of land that currently holds single-family residence. There are single-family commercial units to the north and both commercial and residential buildings to the south of the lot.
Proposed are five single-family dwellings would be three storeys and would use a shared access driveway off of Gibsons Way.
The OCP amendment would change the land use designation to Low Density Residential 1 from Medium Density Residential in order to build larger units.
Planner Katie Thomas explained that additional adjustments are required to make the proposal work.
“We are advising council that we would like to create a new residential cluster zone, which would be called RCL-3,” she said. “And this is to align with the OCP designation and to remove that conflict between the Floor Space Ratio (FSR) and the general units per hectare issue.”
The proposed property would be rezoned to the new RCL-3 from the existing R-3 zone.
David Croal raised the point that the panel is working with an OCP that is “a bit long in the tooth,” meaning that it has not been updated recently, which leads to instances of spot zoning such as this.
Comments from the Panel
ADP member, James Tuer was the first to comment, saying he could not see the value in downzoning Gibsons currently, saying that this may create a dangerous precedent.
He also raised the point that the application challenges the typology of single-family residence due to the small size of the units, as well as the designation of cluster homes.
“My notion of clustering is creating buildings to create interesting spaces between them. And this is very much just the linear necklace of houses,” he said.
Panel members mirrored this sentiment that setting the precedent for downzoning seems questionable for Gibsons currently.
Panel member Douglas Avis also encouraged greater density and said that having two car spaces for every unit seemed excessive considering the lot is on a main bus thoroughfare.
Several ADP members raised the point that duplexes or triplexes would be a better use of the land and would be more affordable.
Once the ADP unanimously agreed it did not support the proposal for lower density, they decided not to speak to the rest of the application, including form and character, as the project would presumably need to be modified.
The panel recommended that the proponent work with their architect and staff to come up with a project that increases the density on this site.
Jordan Copp is the Coast Reporter’s civic and Indigenous affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
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