Editor:
Re: Developer penalized $175,000 for trees, Oct. 4.
The blatant disregard for limitations of a municipal permit, and trespass on private property and a creek by his subcontractor, earned developer Paul Bal a very modest penalty.
To deter future disregard of rules by other developers, the $25,000 fine should have been more significant.
I would hope the term of the $150,000 security deposit does not end until three years after the remedial work is completed.
I also hope that the City of Surrey has placed a lien on the property to protect taxpayers from costs that may exceed the security deposit.
Eric H. O’Dell, Surrey
Passing the buck
So a developer has to pay $175,000 for cutting down a stand of trees. All he will do is pass that amount along to the customers by adding it to whatever he is going to price the houses he builds.
What the city should have done was fine him and withdraw his business licence.
Jim Armstrong, Surrey
Do-it-yourself city
Now that everyone in Surrey is working for the city sorting garbage, my questions are:
Do we all get paid from the money saved or in fact generated by energy recovery? Will our utility fees be reduced? Will our taxes go down? Will we get a small dividend cheque quarterly, or will the city spend it elsewhere? Will the mayor and council take an extra trip?
Remember gas taxes and how they were to pay for roads but now go to general revenue to pay for all the pet projects of those we elect.
Tolls, user fees, cost reductions, sort-your-own-garbage – yet our city grows by over 1,000 people a month.
Do we build new schools as needed? Does the city fix the pot holes in our deteriorating roads? Do we hire bylaws people and, then, do we actually enforce bylaws.
Or is it just general revenue?
Our city is deteriorating. There is shiny new stuff, but who looks after the existing things? The parks, the roads, the rinks, the fields, the people. The things that matter.
It seems to me the current council believes Surrey’s history started in 2005. Our city needs to protect, preserve and maintain its current infrastructure, as well as plan and build for the future. Protect our investments, our homes, our streets, our communities. Enforce bylaws and hold those who violate them accountable. While the city closes bylaw offices, opportunists do what they want.
A $25,000 fine for flagrant violation of a tree bylaw is peanuts considering the expansion potential for house size and lot layout. If the future that lives here is about breaking bylaws for a cost, that is a future we must avoid.
When we see clearcuts of parks and streams and people’s private property, something is definitely broken.
Perhaps the city would like us to sort the garbage and enforce the bylaws. While they cut ribbons and cut red tape regarding rules, someone cuts the trees.
Gary Robinson, Surrey
Slap on the wrist
Re: Here’s to progress, Sept. 27 letters.
I wish to congratulate letter-writer David Fearon for the acutely aware and accurate focus on the atrocities being perpetrated against the environment by the developers in the destruction of the natural environment.
This is only the tip of the iceberg, perhaps, as there now will be additional traffic already polluting the atmosphere beyond redemption.
The query now is: does the penalty of $175,000 for the assault address the issue at all?
Or is it just a slap on the wrist, allowing the greedmongers to “progress” onward in their inimitable manner?
Myrle McIntosh, Surrey
