The full agenda and minutes can be viewed at Gibsons – Meeting Information (civicweb.net) and a recording of the meeting can be viewed at Town of Gibsons – Regular Council – July 9, 2024 (3:30 pm) (youtube.com)

Alternative Approval Process Results

As elector response forms for both the Sanitary Sewer and Outfall and Water Main and Road Restoration Projects were received from less than 10% of electors in the Gibsons electoral area (calculated at 393), elector approval has been obtained and Council has adopted the bylaws. View the staff report.

Smoke Control Bylaw No. 1321, 2024
This Bylaw was proposed due to ongoing complaints from residents regarding a couple of properties in Town about the emission of smoke from an indoor chimney or stack. The complaints often pertain to impacting someone’s well-being, such as an offensive odour or the amount of smoke causing concerns about environmental contamination. This bylaw is not intended to restrict or regulate regular indoor household burning. The Bylaw was Adopted. View the staff report.

Filming Regulation Bylaw, Policy & Fees
Council gave first, second and third reading, and adopted a new filming bylaw that would update the current bylaw due to the significant increase in local film production.
View the staff report.

Rates, Fee, and Charges Amendment Bylaw No. 1196-23 – 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd Reading
Staff have reviewed fees and charges for various services adjusting some to inflation, increasing some for cost recovery as appropriate and removing items that are no longer applicable. View the staff report.

Applications for Variance and Form and Character Development Permit for a residential rental development and daycare at 718 North Rd
Council approved the requested variances to allow for the development 124 residential apartment units and a daycare space within three buildings over a parkade. The applicant may now proceed with a building permit application. View the staff report from the June 18, Committee-of-the-Whole meeting.

Development Permit (DP-2024-13) for a 5-unit residential building at 504 South Fletcher Road

Council approved the request for the DP on the condition that a 2-metre Right-of Way along the Periwinkle Lane frontage is provided for access and that a setback relaxation be granted to allow the landscape retaining walls to extend to the Right-of-Way. View the staff report from the June 18, 2024 Committee of Whole (civicweb.net)

 Billy’s Walk Residences – Zoning Amendment for a mixed-tenure residential development with five buildings at Lots 19, 20 and 21 Gibsons Way and 666 School Road

Council approved the Form and Character Development Permit and staff were directed to notify residents of upcoming decisions on proposed zoning amendments. View the staff report at 2024-06-18 CoW Billys Walk (1).pdf (civicweb.net)

New Director of Finance Appointment

William Wallace has been appointed as the new Director of Finance for the Town. He recently relocated from Smithers, BC, where he was serving as the Director of Finance. His extensive experience includes roles as Chief Financial Officer at the City of Williams Lake and Director of Finance at the District of Houston. Additionally, William has held senior-level finance positions at various BC crown corporations and a global local government sustainability association.

COUNCIL REPORTS

Mayor Silas White

Green Waste: CAO Machado, Director of Infrastructure Trevor Rutley and I met with CAO Dean McKinley and GM of Infrastructure Remko Rosenboom of the SCRD about the problem of the SCRD disallowing small landscaping companies from dropping off residential green waste at the Henry Road site. It took some time, a lot of advocacy, and some creative work by SCRD staff (thank you Tina Perreault and Sherry Reid!) but on June 27, a bylaw change was passed to clarify that a green waste load of under 4 cubic metres (which is slightly greater than a large pickup load) will be considered residential and will therefore be allowed to use the free (well, paid for by taxation) Henry Road service.

Complex Care Housing: Representatives from VCH and BC Housing came to Sechelt to discuss the opportunities for Complex Care Housing on the Coast. As previously mentioned, this is a tremendous advocacy achievement (related to all this investment of time you see elsewhere in this and other reports into treatment, recovery and other mental health services) that the Sunshine Coast has been awarded 20 beds, as many as Vancouver. Much of the work to help identify a suitable location will need to be led by BC Housing and the District of Sechelt, which I am of course supporting on Council’s behalf, as part of our Strategic Plan.

Further advocacy included:

• Regional Hospital District Subcommittee: Attended Regional Hospital District Subcommittee meeting, confirming Totem Lodge repurposing and exploring primary care clinic locations.
• Ferry Advisory Committee: Attended a challenging Ferry Advisory Committee meeting and sent a letter to BC Ferries emphasizing the need for action over discussions.
• BC Ferries: Together with Councillor Croal, we met with BC Ferries officials to discuss community concerns, recognizing the need for provincial funding to improve services.
• shíshálh Nation Meetings: Held multiple meetings with the shíshálh Nation about water projects.
• SCRD Governance: Highlighted the passage of the Community Climate Action Plan and an ambitious Transit Expansion plan. Presented the Aquifer 560 Agreement Update.

Councillor, David Croal

• Attended the Howe Sound Community Forum, discussing the Sea to Sky bike trail and conservation funding.
• Participated in a discussion on emergency preparedness for people with disabilities.
• Joined the Thriving Communities Council meeting, discussing poverty statistics.
• Proclaimed Pride Month and raised the Pride Flag.
• Served at the Canada Day community BBQ event.

Councillor Annemarie De Andrade

• Hosted a roundtable on future jobs on the Coast, focusing on sustainable living.
• Participated in the Ocean Watch Action Committee meeting, discussing ecological health and planning clean-up efforts.

The next Regular meeting of Council to be held on Tuesday, July 23 at 1:00pm.

Smoke Control Bylaw No. 1321, 2024 – 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd Readings

Council gave 1st, 2nd and 3rd readings to the proposed Smoke Control Bylaw that would regulate heavy smoke or smoke with a noxious odour from indoor burning within the Town.

The reason for the Bylaw is the ongoing complaints from residents regarding a couple of properties in Town about the emission of smoke from an indoor chimney or stack. The complaints often pertain to impacting someone’s well-being, such as an offensive odour or the amount of smoke causing concerns about environmental contamination.

The Bylaw will be on the July 9^th Council Meeting for adoption.

View the full report here: Staff Report Indoor Burning.pdf

Gibsons Residents Assembly Recommendations – Presented

Taking place over five Sundays between February and May 2024, the Residents Assembly saw 25 members of the Gibsons community come together to deliberate over the question: “How can Gibsons best plan for the future and meet the housing needs of our growing population?”.

The members who had been selected through a civic lottery process to represent the demographic diversity of Gibsons participated in a wide range of learning activities and heard from numerous experts on a range of topics. At the final session, the Assembly took part in a consensus voting process to finalize recommendations which are included in the report to Council to inform the Town’s OCP update. The six recommendations offer a set of values to guide the OCP, as well as recommendations on relationship-building and reconciliation with the Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) and housing policy options.

The recommendations and the full report can be viewed here: Residents-Assembly-Report_2024_Final-Appendix-compressed.pdf

Participant quotes:
“This process left me feeling empowered, encouraged, and proud of our little town.”
 “It made our difference feel not that different.”

Council Procedure Bylaw No. 1320, 2024  – Adopted

A Council Procedure Bylaw establishes the general procedures that Council follows in conducting its business. The reason for proposing these changes is to improve the efficiency in the conduct of meetings and to bring it in line with legislative changes.

Some of the key proposed amendments included in this Bylaw are:

• Remove sections already addressed by the Community Charter, Local

Government Act or Robert’s Rules of Order

• Provide readability and clarity
• Allow for meeting schedule changes without a bylaw amendment
• Update language to reflect legislative changes
• Align language with the Community Charter and Local Government Act
• Promote healthy discussion and manageable meeting length
• Include new content to provide clarity on presiding over meetings
• Conduct a general clean-up of grammar and content to allow the Corporate Officer to correct typographical errors
• Provide a reasonable period in a new year in which to schedule meetings

The full Bylaw can be viewed at TOWN OF GIBSONS (civicweb.net)

View the full agenda and minutes from the meeting.

View the recording of the meeting.

2024 Financial Plan and Tax Rate Bylaws

A the May 7th Council Meeting, the final 2024 budget financial plan and tax rate bylaw were adopted.

The approved budget includes an 8% overall tax increase, including 5% toward future policing costs and 3% to support general operations. For the owner of an average residential property valued at $920,560 this would mean an additional $103.24 in municipal taxes.

Both Sewer and Water rates have increased by 5%, and Garbage and Organics User Rates will increase by $38 annually. With water meters, users pay for what they use: a sample single-family residential property (160m3 over 6-month period) will pay an additional $45.47. For sewer services, an average single family residential property will pay an additional $35.30.

Council and staff worked diligently over the last several months to find savings and revenue to keep taxes as low as possible. With Gibsons’ aging infrastructure and escalating construction costs, maintaining a minimal tax increase presented a significant challenge.

This budget ensures that Gibsons will have the necessary resources to continue delivering essential services to the community while also addressing infrastructure needs and preparing for the upcoming increase in policing costs.

More information on the budget can be found at gibsons.ca/budget-2024

OCP and Zoning Amendment for Lot A and C

Council authorized staff to prepare the OCP and Zoning Amendment Bylaws for OCP-2023-04 and ZA-2023-07 to accommodate the commercial and residential development on Lots A and C Gibsons Way. These are the lots surrounding the 101 Brewery, BMO building and Blue Heron live-work spaces.

629 Mahan Road

Council approved the request for a Development Permit and Development Variance to allow additional height and apartment use on ground level for the property at 629 Mahan Road. Council thoroughly discussed the community impact of an additional floor of housing units and ultimately reasoned by a majority vote that approving the variance would better meet community housing needs than denying it.

456-458 Marine Drive Gibsons Way

Staff presented the revised design for a mixed-use building at on the waterfront at 456-458 Marine Drive Gibsons Way, besides the Bayside restaurant. Council was in favour of authorizing the form and character Development Permit, subject to the following changes:

a) Secure the stairs from Marine Drive to the Sea-walk for public access.
b) Revise the colour palette for brighter colours.
c) Soften the armouring along the sea walk.

Pebbles Beach Stairs

A contract to replace the stairs and conduct slope stabilization at Pebbles Beach has been awarded to NB Contracting. Construction is scheduled to begin on May 27 and is expected to be completed by the end of June. The park will be closed to the public during this period.

Pebbles Beach Restoration – Town of Gibsons

What has Council been up to?

Conference Attendance: Mayor White and Youth Representative, Cael Read, attended the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities

(AVICC) conference which focused on housing legislation, climate action, and youth engagement. Cael gave a speech at the conference on his advocacy efforts for free transit for youth on the Sunshine Coast and his representation on Gibsons’ Council.

Advocacy Efforts: Mayor White’s advocacy efforts have included meetings with BC Ferries officials, discussions on complex care housing, and engagement with the Minister of State for Infrastructure and Transit. Noteworthy successes included securing 20 complex care beds for the Sunshine Coast and advancing discussions on stormwater management.

Local Initiatives: Mayor White discussed efforts to preserve Stonehurst, healthcare infrastructure, and homelessness outreach.

Community Engagements: Councillor Christi Thompson participated in fundraising efforts for the Gibsons Senior Society Harmony Hall expansion and attended an AGM with MP Patrick Weiler.

• View the full Council Meeting agenda here: Gibsons – Meeting Information (civicweb.net)
• View the full Committee-of-the-Whole agenda here: Gibsons – Meeting Information (civicweb.net)

Council Report Highlight – Mayor White’s Meeting with Patrick Weiler

In his Council Report, Mayor White highlighted his meeting with MP Patrick Weiler on January 16 where Weiler announced federal funding for the removal of seven derelict boats in the Gibsons/Howe Sound area. To emphasize the continuing need for this support, Mayor White showed MP Weiler a loose boat that had sunk in the harbour only a few days earlier. Abandoned boats pose a serious risk to the coastal environment and a are significant cost to taxpayers.

Read the full Council Report here.

Review of BC Timber Sales Mt. Elphinstone South Watershed Assessment

The Natural Asset Technician presented a brief to Council on the comprehensive peer-reviewed hydrologic and hydrogeologic review of BC Timber Sales Mt. Elphinstone South Watershed Assessment. The Natural Asset Technician provided recommendations to Council that BCTS conduct additional research and take proactive measures to safeguard the watershed before initiating any logging activities.

Read the full staff report and recommendations here.

Budget Discussions

Staff presented the long-term financial plan, preliminary operations and capital budgets for the Town’s Water and Sanitary Sewer Services and Garbage and Organics Collection at the Committee-of-the-Whole Meeting. Long-term financial plans are under significant pressure due to escalating construction costs to replace aging infrastructure. Updated costs will require $28 million dollars to replace existing sewer infrastructure and $12 million for water infrastructure, virtually doubling previous estimates.

A 5% rate increase to both water and sanitary sewer utility rates was recommended for 2024, with higher rate increases coming in the future. A 5% increase for a single-family residential property would result in an additional $37.06 for sewer and $47.75 for water (sample household that used 320 m3 per year). Furthermore, as per Council’s request, staff Sanitary Sewer and Garbage and Organics rates structures will be adjusted to discontinue the practice of applying extra fees to long-term rental suites, beginning April 1, 2024.

Read the full agenda and related reports here.

Mixed-use development at 1057 Gibsons Way

Council gave staff direction to draft zoning bylaw amendments for a proposal to develop a mixed-use commercial/residential building at the corner of Pratt Road and Gibsons Way, with a height bonus conditional on secured rental tenure for the residential units located above the second storey. The proposed development would provide 141 housing units, commercial/retail business, and Live-Work opportunities in a key area of the Town where a wide variety of services are accessible within walking distance and via transit.

View the development overview here.

Lot 14 Venture Way

Council passed third reading for both OCP and Zoning amendments to change the land use to light industrial. The bylaw needs to be signed off from the MOTI before coming back for adoption.

OCP Amendment Bylaw 985-34 – Lot 14 Venture Way

Zoning Amendment Bylaw 1065-75 – Lot 14 Venture Way