(by Newsdesk)
Gibsons councillor Silas White met with 40 angry residents in the Creekside neighbourhood on Sunday. They want the town to pave their streets. White said the matter will be discussed at tonight’s council meeting.
The town’s director of engineering Dave Newman had the pavement in the neighbourhood replaced with chipseal, a thin layer of tar with gravel.
The residents complain about potholes, mud, loose gravel, unsafe driving conditions, dust, damage to cars from flying gravel, and difficulty walking on the small, loose rocks.
“My brand new vehicle is covered in tar specks because of these roads. Kids used to rollerblade and play street hockey. No longer. I’ll surely be out to vote against anyone who thought this was a good idea,” resident Christian Obeck wrote on Facebook.
The residents feel their complaints to the town have been ignored.
“I have tried to get on the town’s agendas [for council meetings] to speak on this subject and have been turned away or [I’ve been] told that ‘it doesn’t fit in with the rest of the agenda items’,” resident Bruce McClymont wrote on Facebook.
He wrote a letter to council but received no response.
Two residents have contacted Global TV and CTV about the chipseal problems. McClymont cc’d his email to television to council.
Last Saturday night White told McClymont he would come the next day, without specifying a time. On Sunday, White texted he would arrive within a half hour. Forty residents were waiting for him.
“I’m sure he was a little surprised to have 40 neighbours tell him what they thought,” McClymont said.
“White stood on the road and was shocked by how many cars went by at the corner of Seacot and Mountainview, even on a Sunday,” McClymont’s wife Rachel McClymont said. “How could the town’s department of engineering turn such a busy corner into a gravel road? What were they thinking?”
“I take no issue with anything that was said,” White said in an email to The Coast Clarion.
“It was a positive and respectful meeting and I completely agree that the condition of the road is unacceptable,” White wrote.
“We need to have more community engagement like this in Gibsons and I highly commend Bruce and Rachel McClymont for getting so many residents together to surprise me on such short notice.”
“Staff and council have already been closely monitoring the sorry chip-seal situation,” White wrote.
How did this situation come about? Did Council know that streets other than Hillcrest were going to be chipsealed?
“There was ‘streets to be named later’ language in the borrowing bylaw but I don’t recall that these streets were ever brought to Council for approval once they were identified by staff,” White wrote.
“When the budget came through staff added more roads to the program. These were roads that eventually needed to be redone, but unfortunately some paved roads were torn up that were preferred by residents in their previous state to the current chipseal state. Also, Seacot and Mountainview were chipsealed when these roads take on a lot of traffic going in and out of the neighbourhood. Clearly this job has not held up well to the traffic and is worsening by the day,” White wrote.
“This [staff adding more roads to the program] occurred in the summer and we don’t even meet in August. I don’t blame staff for this because it is inadequate Council process and oversight that we need to be more involved in. The same thing happened when the sea walk was paved. We didn’t know it was happening, but we are ultimately responsible. I am hopeful that after this horrible experience, Council will consider some changes to our governance/oversight of our budgeting and capital projects.
“After meeting with residents on Sunday, I feel we need to find funds to correct this situation even sooner. I will be reporting on the meeting and raising this suggestion at council tonight.
“This has been an incredibly frustrating and aggravating experience. People have every right to be upset and I know everyone on council is willing to hear their concerns and work out a plan that works for our whole community,” White wrote.
Will council consider paving all chipsealed roads in Creekside, or only the corner of Seacot and Mountainview?
“The other chip-seal roads should continue to improve to the point where they are as good as all the other acceptable chipsealed roads in Sunshine Coast neighbourhoods, especially as the weather improves,” White wrote.
“We are proposing to borrow money this year to properly pave Gibsons Way and Gower Point Road (roads everyone uses) in alignment with funds we’ve received to replace water mains on those roads. This is a way we can utilize grants to make paving more affordable. We are also including an additional paving fund, that we hope to build up, in the same borrowing proposal.”
“If Silas White wants to be mayor, he has to prove he can work for us,” Rachel McClymont commented.
The meeting at town hall starts at 7 pm.