Gibsons has demonstrated economic development success — winning a BC Open for Business award — but there are also barriers to establishing and growing businesses here. A dedicated annual contract position, renewable depending on available grants, would provide the stability and flexibility to find the right person to seek out and encourage businesses that will provide sustainable employment here.

Businesses developing or expanding a their own industrial or commercial facility would receive a time-bound property tax reduction — lowering the barrier to breaking ground in Gibsons, attracting employers and strengthening the town's revenue base once the incentive period ends and the facility comes onto the full tax roll. The one exception to this would be AI data centres, which I would move to ban in the town of Gibsons.

A direct, electric ferry link has been proposed between Gibsons wharf and Coal Harbour. It would increase travel options, reduce travel time, emit less carbon, and provide better connections to downtown Vancouver — while bringing tourism without the vehicle traffic that usually accompanies it. The Town can help make this a reality through expedited permitting, land dedication, and favourable tax treatment to the benefit of our community.

The Town provides many key services to the community - and we don't want to sacrifice these. However, we should always be looking to deliver the best value to the people who live here. As a matter of course the town should periodically review its recurring expenditures to ensure that we are getting what we pay for. If a line item is no longer delivering real benefit to the community relative to its cost, we should direct those resources elsewhere - either to achieve something better, or ease the tax burden on our residents.

Ensure any non-core capital projects have clear community consent. Taxpayer funds belong to the community — so beyond the core services the Town must deliver, major spending should proceed only with demonstrated support from the people paying for it.

Infrastructure is cheapest to maintain when cared for on schedule — and most expensive when it fails. Building on the Town's Asset Management Program, planned, proactive investment in the Town's assets spreads costs predictably across years and prevents the sudden budget shocks of emergency repairs, keeping long-term tax pressure down.

Along with the local funding of the police from the community should come a local presence of the police in the community. While police must respond to emergencies outside Gibsons in best way they can, there should be an expectation that the RCMP have a full-time presence in Gibsons following the assumption of policing costs by the town.

The new policing cost should equate to a normal operating schedule at the Gibsons RCMP office - people in the community should be able to access police administrative services as needed without having to drive two towns over.

Council should receive more frequent briefings on policing activities, interactions, and crime statistics — with genuine opportunity for Council to provide feedback based on what they hear from their constituents.

Our community is surrounded by forest — including large parts of our aquifer — yet municipal jurisdiction ends at the town boundary. By participating in the Sunshine Coast Community Forest and developing a locally controlled forest tenure around the town, we would have a direct say in forest management decisions affecting our drinking water, build capability to reduce wildfire risk through fuel management and selective harvesting, and foster local employment and revenue for community programs.

Substantial areas of Lower Gibsons will be susceptible to flooding under even low projections of global heating. New minimum floor elevations protect new construction — but not existing homes, businesses, or the roads, water lines, and sanitation pipes we all depend on. Planning for sea level rise and incrementally, affordably building berms, dykes, pumps, and natural assets as needed will spread out the costs. The sooner we start, the more cost-effective it will be.

Every tonne of carbon we emit reduces our air quality, makes the ocean more acidic, and drives global heating. We can reduce our emissions through measures like the adoption of the Zero Carbon Step Code, that guides developers to construct buildings that emits progressively lower greenhouse gases, and working with BC Transit or other partners to establish a low-carbon shuttle between Lower and Upper Gibsons among others. These measures would reduce the total ownership costs of living in and operating a new building, and make it easier to live here without the costs of a car.

We also need to maintain a watchful eye on our aquifer, and ensure consumption levels don't exceed recharge. This involves managing the scale and form of growth in our community to keep our population, tax base, and economy stable, while protecting our supply of exceptional, clean drinking water.

Waterfront development is by nature contentious, but it is possible to have development that is refined, environmentally sensitive, accessible and supported by the community. We don't want towers on our marina, but tasteful development can deliver tax dollars, jobs, and infrastructure improvements to our town.

Development along the waterfront should help fund infrastructure that makes the seaside path more climate-ready and accessible to people with disabilities — so everyone can enjoy the water's edge, whatever their mobility.

While more infrastructure and facilities along our waterfront could be great for the community, it won't mean much if the only public space is a narrow pathway between private space and the water's edge. Our planning, zoning, and permitting should envision a waterfront with public spaces: picnic tables, play spaces, cafes, art installations and other amenities that make our waterfront even better for the people who live here.

With the new Zoning bylaw in earlier this year, the Town made it possible to build more housing, more easily. However, for those not in the market, rental housing stock remains in short supply. The Town should work to accelerate approvals for purpose-built rental construction, and provide time-bound property tax reductions for new rental building operators. We should also simplify the requirements for those who are looking to convert suites to rental units for long-term housing.

Consistent with the spirit of our active transportation network plan, the Town should establish a policy to add pedestrian facilities (sidewalks or multi-use paths) when adjacent roads are being resurfaced or underground infrastructure is replaced - this allows for the most cost-effective deployment, and the lowest additional disturbance. Areas along bus routes should be prioritized where possible to deliver the greatest safety, and design for accessibility should be standard.

Trees purify the air, manage water runoff, and reduce summer heat. Our Urban Forest Plan recommends the planting of 2,200 additional trees on public and private lands within Gibsons. The cost for the town's share of these would be substantial. A tree sponsorship program funded by local or national donors would allow the town to distribute tree coupons from local nurseries to residents. They could then plant and care for the young boulevard trees until they take root. This would foster community engagement, improve tree survival, support the town's policy at low cost to the taxpayer.