Editor:
Some pushback to the 1505 Tideview article, and letter to editor. (Kudos to Area F director)
The complainants at this meeting all built, or bought, their homes on this same very steep cliff, they are painting so bleakly. (I live on Tideview too.) The “ancient history” vernacular crash, and a more recent homeowner accident highlight that fire and rescue (and garbage) already don’t bring their vehicles down Tideview, due to its steepness and being dirt. (Closest fire hydrant is on Smith). The fire and rescue concern is an easily recognized red herring, as even if fire and rescue did come down the hill on the worst construction day of the build, they could get to within 100 feet of the concerned neighbours. As for it not fitting the character of the neighbourhood, my place looks like a planetary observatory with its curved blue steel roof, theirs are more typical West Coast homes…there is no character to conform to, nor should there be. Looks like the applicant has designed in off street parking, something that two of the three complainant households don’t have, they park on Tideview!
As for access during the build, two of the complainants’ homes would have generated exactly these same concerns, yet lovely thoughtful people sorted this out, and that will happen here too I suspect. (I have offered one of my parking spots to them during the build.) Any new build can generate some chaos, so tying that to a setback variance is thin. So, homeowners who built or bought in exactly the same “difficult” location, without any on property parking, are now trying to thwart this applicant, who has designed parking into their design. I and other neighbours welcome our new neighbours, and that sentiment needs to be heard.
Steve Carter, Gibsons
