Speakers at protest meeting in Frank West Hall want the Town of Gibsons to solve infrastructure problems before development approved
by Margot Grant
Seventy-five residents from Area E (Elphinstone) came out to Frank West Hall on Wednesday to voice opposition to the proposed Gospel Rock development, which plans to use Pratt, Chaster and Rosamund Roads as arterial access routes.
Susan Rule, who organized the event, says the planned 250 housing units on Block 7 Gospel Rock will increase the number of cars on Pratt Road by at least 2,000 a day. She also fears heavy construction traffic on this already busy road.
Pratt Road, and part of Chaster and Rosamund Roads, are in Area E. The Gospel Rock development is in Gibsons. All speakers agreed that the main thoroughfares to the project should be created in Gibsons. “The Town of Gibsons gets the tax revenue. We get heavy traffic and pollution, and the roads will be maintained with our tax dollars,” most speakers said.
It is unclear where alternative access roads to the Gospel Rock development would go. The Neighbourhood Plan allows for a total of 1,115 housing units, and an extension of Shaw and Inglis Roads in Gibsons would increase traffic for residents in that area. Speakers said the Town of Gibsons should solve the road-access problem before any development is allowed.
Rule invited Gibsons Mayor Wayne Rowe and town planner Andre Boel to the meeting, but Boel sent regrets and the mayor did not attend. Also invited were Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) senior planner David Rafael and Rob Barrs of Gospel Rock development firm MODUS; neither attended.
Many speakers said they feel powerless: the 780 households in the area have no influence on the town council in Gibsons, and the SCRD views Gospel Rock as a Gibsons issue. The roads in the area are under provincial jurisdiction, which does not provide public consultation.
Environmentalist George Smith, who lives on Gower Point Road, called on the residents to contact MLA Nicholas Simons and ask him to talk to Claire Trevena, the new provincial minister of transportation and infrastructure. He also urged them to work with other citizen’s groups in Gibsons to oppose projects without the construction of infrastructure first.