Editor: The weight of all the heartfelt presentations about development in Brookswood/Fernridge has left me with a whole new appreciation of my home community. I have taken its beauty for granted. Then I heard my neighbours say, some in tears, how much the open spaces and natural beauty mean to them and their families. This has opened my eyes to the gem we have here in South Langley.
The biggest concerns seem to be the effects that tripling the population would have on the aquifer, traffic, nature and the spirit of the community. Many seemed to be OK with development that would carry on what has started, by breaking up five-acre lots into quarter-acre lots. Any more than that seems to be too much.
I remember back in the 1960s and 1970s, how the spirit of the developers was to see how they could build houses in the middle of stands of trees, and disturb the trees as little as possible.
Joni Mitchell’s song was popular at that time:
“Don’t it always seem to go,
That you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.
They paved paradise
and put up a parking lot.”
We didn’t want a parking lot then and we don’t want one now.
The spirit of Brookswood/Fernridge is still alive after all these years. If the vote by council is in favour of high-density housing here, it may very well succeed at last in breaking our spirit.
If that happens, Langley will have lost a real treasure. Thank you, my dear neighbours, for opening my eyes much wider to the precious community we have.
Loriane Frewing,
Langley
