Editor:
In response to your editorial “By the Seaside” l question why consultants hired from afar to guide the Town of Gibsons through yet another OCP review get to weigh in on defining our seaside character. Why are taxpayers paying for consultants to define whether we have an outdated character or if we have colonial undertones? So let me get this right, we pay consultants and developers to define our character. How much easier is this rather than taking the time to develop a proper definition of seaside character and apply it to any development in the village? This is already done in many other communities for example in Cape Cod, Mass.
As a concerned citizen who is passionate about our town, I have offered many times to our town government to help strike up or sit on a volunteer ad hoc committee to help define and establish a seaside look that the town could adopt and implement going forward. I know they have had other offers as well.
Apparently our officials would rather spend taxpayer’s dollars on consultants who do not live here and have no connection to our community.
Right now, we get a mixture of architecture that does not suit our town but because there is no specific definition of “seaside character” it is easy to approve anything that comes to the table. Our little town has such an opportunity to define itself right now but the time clock is ticking and omitting a definition of seaside character in our new OCP review may be the nail in the coffin for the future look of our seaside town.
Respectfully,
Judith Bonkoff, Gibsons
