Mayor White’s Update – March 2025
Area E Safety Improvements
It has been wonderful to finally see the official announcement of the speed limit reduction outside of the Town, the enhanced highway crossings at Poplars and Woodcreek Park, and the four-way stop at Pratt and Chaster.
While all of these Ministry of Transportation upgrades are in Area E and have been raised as community concerns for years, the commitments to do the work go back to a January 26, 2024, meeting that the Town of Gibsons organized with key Ministry personnel and MLA Nicholas Simons. We invited Director Donna MacMahon to help represent these Area E concerns because Council agreed that they should also be the Town’s advocacy priorities to MOTI, given both the high degree of danger (sadly, one more person would die in the meantime) and the fact that nothing had been getting done for many years.
At the meeting, we secured commitments to install the four-way stop at Chaster and Pratt and to conduct an engineering and pedestrian safety study from Reed Road to Lower Road, with the crossings at Poplars and Woodcreek Park as priorities. We also relentlessly followed up, including at UBCM 2024, where we were told all the planning work was being completed and the improvements would be ready to be made in 2025. Although some confusion is circulating that these changes appeared out of nowhere, or were only in response to the latest tragedy, we have correspondence going back to last January that tells a very different story of all the behind-the-scenes advocacy that occurred.
Another crucial contribution was new MLA Randene Neill’s prioritization of highway safety, which helped secure the provincial funding commitment for these projects. All this intergovernmental work was fuelled and inspired by fresh community advocacy, including numerous letters and a new petition organized by Ben Marteinson.
SCRD Budget Impacts
As I forewarned in previous reports, Gibsons saw the highest SCRD tax increase—11.14% overall (9.06% for residential)—driven by rising assessments and increased fire department costs, largely due to demands in Areas B and E.
This increase only covers part of the cost for paid on-call firefighters and a new deputy chief; next year, we’ll face the full impact. Our Fire Commission has lost a lot of autonomy, with the SCRD imposing a “one-size-fits-all” approach to the very different departments across the Coast. Outvoted by Areas E & F, we also had little say in these decisions that hit our taxes harder than theirs. As I’ve pointed out previously, the regional district model that was initiated 60 years ago to efficiently save tax dollars through cost-sharing is doing much the opposite for Gibsons, and ironically does not seem to very popular elsewhere on the Coast, either.
With a $434,359 budget increase ($13 per $100,000 of assessed value), Gibsons had the third highest increase in the SCRD. We voted against the budget, as we have for the past two years.
Public Art Committee
The Public Art Committee has been revived as a Gibsons Public Art Gallery committee with a Town liaison rather than a Town committee. There is still funding left for a final installation in the Public Art Path from the Squamish Nation; we’re working to get this process started, with the likely location being White Tower Park.
Advocacy Updates
Watershed Governance: We continue to advocate for watershed governance of the Mount Elphinstone Aquifer 560 Recharge Area. CAO Machado, the Natural Asset Technician Michelle Lewis, and I met with Minister Randene Neill on January 17 to brief her on this topic and followed up with her staff in Victoria on February 20.
BC Ferries: BC Ferries has been holding poorly attended online engagement meetings, and I continue to share that our community has “engagement fatigue.” People want to see action, not endless engagement sessions run by third-party consultants. Despite these challenges, I recently met with BC Ferries Vice-President Brian Anderson in Victoria, where we discussed TAP forms, the need for support for the Major Vessels Construction Plan (which we provided), the upcoming renewal of Horseshoe Bay Terminal, and the need for better vehicle counting at Horseshoe Bay for reliable “vehicle space” information sharing.
Greenline Ferries: A highlight this month was attending the February 7 joint press conference in Coal Harbour to support efforts to establish Harbour Green as the Vancouver landing for a passenger ferry. It was great to join leaders such as MP Patrick Weiler, MLA Jeremy Valeriote, and Vancouver Park Board and Council representatives in this initiative
Gibsons Landing Business Association: I’ve been encouraging a small group of residents and business owners to look into reviving the Gibsons Landing Business Association to bring together the new generation of businesses in the Landing. We are in early discussions and have engaged Theressa Logan to learn from the Sechelt Downtown Business Association’s experience.
The Beachcombers: On February 20, I met with Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport Minister Spencer Chandra Herbert to discuss joint advocacy to the CBC for the release of The Beachcombers episodes. His deputy minister followed up with additional discussion and contacts. This remains an ongoing Strategic Plan project.
Other Community Meeting & Events
- January 3: Met with MLA Randene Neill regarding highway safety, watershed governance, and healthcare advocacy.
- January 10: Engaged with local professionals on long-term care services and worked with Homeless Coordinator on BC Housing initiatives.
- February 6-7: Attended Connect the Coast meetings focused on the pathway from Pratt Rd to Lower Rd.
- February 12: Attended the BlueAct Marine Society’s Climate Action Speaker Series featuring climate scientist Mark Jaccard.
- February 20: Met with BC Ferries representatives and Minister Chandra Herbert in Victoria.
- March 3: Interviewed by Vancouver Sun‘s Dana Gee regarding Murder in a Small Town.
I look forward to continued progress on these initiatives and appreciate the ongoing engagement of our community members.
Sincerely,
Mayor Silas White
