The cape at the south-west corner of the Gibsons peninsula, on a road that changes jurisdiction somewhere nobody has published.
Where Gower Point sits, and the other places we attend
around Gibsons. Every name on the map is a link.
One road, two jurisdictions
Gower Point is the cape at the south-west corner of the Gibsons peninsula, where the shore turns out of Shoal Channel into the Strait of Georgia. Gower Point Road runs from Gibsons Landing west and then north-west along the water, past the point, to Ocean Beach Esplanade and Bonniebrook. Captain George Vancouver gave the point its name.
The road begins inside the Town of Gibsons and finishes in Sunshine Coast Regional District Electoral Area E. Where it changes is not published. The Town lists three of its own parks on Gower Point Road, Winegarden, Dougall and Holland, which fixes the inner end inside the municipality. Chaster Park at 1577 Ocean Beach Esplanade and Bonniebrook Lodge at 1532 are in Area E. The boundary is somewhere between, and the published record gets no closer than that.
An address on the Town side is on Town water from Aquifer 560, under Town bylaws, on Town mains with Town hydrants, and cleared by Town crews. An address on the Area E side is under regional district bylaws on a provincial road, very likely on a private drilled well, and not necessarily near a hydrant at all. An insurer may class a property with no hydrant close by as semi-protected, which the regional district's fire protection commission put on the record in October 2024. If you do not know which side you are on, the Town of Gibsons is 604-886-2274 and the regional district is 604-885-6800.
The community name was rescinded in 1998
BC Geographical Names holds two records for Gower Point, both on map sheet 92G/5. The point itself is official, adopted 4 October 1945, at 49°23'01"N 123°32'17"W. The community of the same name is recorded as rescinded, decision date 29 September 1998, at 49°23'19"N 123°31'34"W. People live in a community whose name the gazetteer cancelled 28 years ago.
The Coast's rainfall is measured by hand on this road
The Environment and Climate Change Canada co-operative climate station Gibsons Gower Point, station ID CA001043152, is on Gower Point Road. It has been read by one family, the Heppels, formerly the Wests, since its first entry on 4 October 1961. They record minimum and maximum temperature twice a day, at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., with rainfall and snowfall. It is one of 354 volunteer stations in the Meteorological Service of Canada's co-operative climate network.
Its records are the numbers for this shore:
highest temperature, 35.0 °C, 28 June 2021
lowest temperature, −12.0 °C, 2 February 1989
most rain in a day, 66.4 mm, 16 October 2003
most snow in a day, 35.6 cm, 26 December 1968
most rain in a month, 385.0 mm, November 1983
most snow in a month, 134.4 cm, December 1964
I'll keep on doing it until I drop down dead.
Fran Heppel, on reading the Gower Point climate station, Coast Reporter, 2021
In November 2021 the station recorded at least 376 millimetres, within nine millimetres of its own monthly record set in 1983. That was the month a state of local emergency was declared across the regional district, Chaster Park was shut and evacuation alerts went out for listed addresses on Ocean Beach Esplanade.
Vacation houses have stood on this shore since the 1930s
The Elphinstone community plan describes Ocean Beach Esplanade as a waterfront area where vacation residential development surged from the 1930s onwards. That is the documented origin of the seasonal pattern on this road.
The plan also puts hazard designations on the waterfront lots. Development Permit Area 1A, the coastal flood assessment area, reaches inland from the ocean to the eight-metre contour on the Canadian Geodetic Datum. Area 1B deals with coastal slope stability inside 15 metres of the estimated future natural boundary. A low waterfront lot on the Area E end of Gower Point Road is inside one or both.
The nearest fire hall for the outer end of this road is the department's Cliff Mahlman satellite hall at 1226 Chaster Road, rather than the main hall on North Road.
What a check at Gower Point covers
Which jurisdiction the property is in, and the correct water shut-off for it: Town stop or private well
The well pump house, pressure tank and any heat tape in it, on the Area E end of the road
The thermostat holding its setting, or the water off and every line emptied
Every fixture run briefly, and the hot-water tank and its drip tray checked
Steps, railings, retaining wall and driftwood driven up the bank by a southwest gale on a high tide
Gutters and downspouts clear, on a shore that took 376 millimetres in one month
Trees over the roof and over the service drop, and limbs down on the drive
Doors, windows and outbuildings, each lock turned rather than glanced at
A dated photographic record of the full list, sent to you by email
Cover on an unoccupied house through the heating season normally depends on a competent person inspecting it at the interval written into the policy, often not more than four consecutive days apart, or on the water being shut off and the pipes drained. Wordings are not uniform across insurers. Check the one you hold.
What it costs
A scheduled check at Gower Point is
$55 a visit, plus
$10 travel. The travel charge is the same
everywhere between Gibsons and Egmont. There is no minimum term and no joining fee.
See the full price list.
Where these facts come from
Every figure, date and quotation on this page was taken from one of these. They are
listed so you can read them yourself.
