Editor:
Re: PAN online poll, Dec. 11-17.
You asked: “Do you like the idea of more highrises in White Rock?”
This is the wrong question.
I think we are resigned to more highrises in White Rock. But do we want them in our town centre or dotted all over the place?
The answer to this question is quite different. No! No! No!
Mary Ponsford, White Rock
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Why is our White Rock city council obsessed with pushing the Elegant Development project on Oxford Street forward (Towers backed after 5-hour hearing, Dec. 9)?
We have been led to believe the priority is developing our town centre. The project on Oxford does nothing to encourage developers to consider building in our town core.
Quite the contrary! Why would a developer consider buying the more expensive downtown properties when they can build their towers on less expensive land outside the core?
Instead of catering to these perimeter builders, why not focus on incentives to build our “downtown”?
I do believe our city’s planning department sees this concept but is obviously overruled and bullied by “the coalition”. The odour we smell in our City by the Sea is emanating from behind closed doors at city hall.
Does our city government have the best interests of its constituents at heart, or do they have their own questionable agendas or motives?
Glen A. Friesen, White Rock
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Open letter to White Rock Couns. Lynne Sinclair, Megan Knight, Grant Meyers and Bill Lawrence.
Can you kindly state for the public record what your reasons were for approving the Elegant Development 21- and 24-storey towers on Oxford Street, despite the fact you went against the recommendations of the director of city planning, the Official Community Plan and the signed petition of 1,800 people opposed it.
For the appearance of transparency, ethics and what should be the minimum requirement of holding public office, it’s the honourable thing to do. The 1,800 signatories of the petition await your responses.
Susan Muraja, Surrey
