NEW INFORMATION Businessmen from Vancouver say they want to build 7,000 sq ft retail, commercial and office space at corner
(by News Desk)
UPDATE: Grant Gillies, one of the two owners of Target Homes, has provided The Coast Clarion with more information. See his statements below.
If plans are to be believed, Gibsons Landing will change forever. David Ransier and Grant Gillies, owners of Target Homes in Vancouver, have put up a sign announcing their intention to build retail, commercial and office space on the iconic corner lot that is currently the home of the Persephone, the log-salvage boat from the CBC-TV Beachcombers series and one of the town’s main tourist attractions.
“We plan to do a 7,000-square feet small commercial building per the picture,” Gillies said by email. “The project completely conforms with the zoning bylaw and has been reviewed by the township.”
Chief administrative officer Emanuel Machado says Ransier and Gillies have made no application to the town.
“The billboard states ”Available Spring of 2020.”
The two businessmen bought the lot at the corner of Gower Point Road and School Road, just above Molly’s Lane and Molly’s Reach, as well as the empty lot next to Mexican restaurant Lunitas, in November 2017.
Does this development fall within the guidelines for ”seaside village” and ”small-town character” in the official community plan (OCP)? Late last year, during the discussion about the proposal for a modern-looking building on North Road next to the Heritage Playhouse, it became clear that these guidelines need further definition.
Council sees an OCP review for form and character as a priority, Mayor Bill Beamish told The Coast Clarion Thursday.
“We are still in the process of reviewing the budget for 2019 and we have not decided about funds for the [OCP] review,” he said. ”We don’t know yet if we will be able to hire a consultant for a proposal or if we will have to do it ourselves. We may want to set up a committee. Staff is very, very busy, that’s no secret.”
Council will discuss plans for the OCP review in council and the public will have input, Beamish said. An OCP amendment requires a public hearing, and Beamish expects the review process to be completed before the end of this year. In the meantime, development applications can be made.
“Property owners have the right to go through the process,” Beamish said. ”I would think that at that corner, the structure for sure would need to have the same height elevation as the buildings around it.”
Target Homes has built residential housing on the mainland, mostly in Squamish. In 2006, Gillies’ Target Developments proposed to build 109 condos on the Shoal Bay properties in the Gibsons harbour area. The development was to be four storeys tall (five at the waterfront) with a sloped roof and concrete piles driven into the aquifer.
Residents voiced their opposition at several tumultuous meetings. They were concerned about the aquifer, but also felt the project did not meet the “small-town character” criteria stipulated in the OCP. After a public hearing where 40 out of 45 speakers spoke against the project, council voted it down in 2008.
I’m not sure the Town has grounds to reject this if it meets the guidelines. It seems to me that the Persephone would have to be moved to town-owned property–maybe the little park at the “five corners”? It’s a shame because where the Persephone is now is so close to Molly’s Reach and that whole Beachcomber-related area.
It was my uncle that had the part of Nick in the series. These remembrances are iconic here. It is almost like we don’t value things that really mean something. More commercial! I can hear the cry go up as I type. Consume people, its good for the economy! Ya right get a grip!
NO NO NO
Again we let developers define our town for us rather than us dictating to them what will work. As I have said before we are losing our seaside character with each new proposal and we are becoming a hodgepodge of different styles leaving us with no identity.
We cannot retain our quaint town without strict guidelines.
These developers have tried this before with shoal bay and did not get away with it . Let’s see what the new group of politicians do to keep their promises about retaining the quaintness of our seaside village.
My point is that the lot where the Persephone now stands is, apparently, privately owned. The Town can (and should) demand that any building erected there comply with the height by-law, form and character (if they ever decide what that means), and any other rules. They could ask Target Developments to please not develop that site, so that the Persephone can remain there, but I don’t think they can legally force them not to develop their own property, as long as they are obeying the rules. This is not the same as the George Hotel situation where rules have been bent out of shape to accommodate the developer. It is also not the same as Shoal Bay, which was another huge building over the aquifer. A small retail building at the present Persephone site is simply not the same magnitude of threat.
The town could buy that spot and leave it as is.its a defining monument.
That would be nice–but with the price of real estate these years–dream on! It’s not as if that corner is a historic site–when I moved here 34 years ago there was a Shell station there. That building stood empty for a while before being demolished. I remember attending a coffee house in the empty Shell building back in the ’90’s.
I do think the developer’s illustration is misleading. It shows a lot more space between the proposed building and Molly’s Reach than I saw when I walked by there this morning.
This is actually useful, thanks.