Editor:
It might be a good thing (?) that the developer of the Stonehurst property is spending more than $2.6 million to convert an old family home into a hotel… and a restaurant…and a bistro… and saying they will try to keep it looking like the heritage building it is by doing some landscaping.
But how will it look when the developer builds two big four-storey condo buildings on the hillside right beside the hotel/bistro on the lot which the town may sell them on the School Road hillside?
I suggest it may detract from the harbour atmosphere that Lower Gibsons is so well known and loved for.
Does this make sense?
The developer wants to buy the property beside the Stonehurst home, which has more than 20 parking spaces, for about $750,000. They then want to build two big condo buildings on the property with a huge amount of parking spaces for residents and visitors (60!) in three underground levels. Then they will sell back to the Town 15 of those spaces for roughly the same amount for which they bought the whole lot.
Does this make sense?
Also, those who use the existing (presently free) municipal parking, which accommodates various sizes of vehicles, may not all be able to access underground (paid?) parking.
Does this make sense?
What happens when it snows?
School Road regularly closes in the winter because of snow and unsafe conditions on the very steep hill.
The developer of the Stonehurst property is proposing a four-storey condo with three additional levels of underground parking and 60 parking spaces. All these vehicles will enter and exit via three large automatic garage doors onto the steepest (21 per cent) grade in Lower Gibsons.
Does this make sense?
Denis Prevost, Gibsons
