Editor, The Record:
Re: Council supporting ALR subdivision, Oct. 4 edition.
Quite clearly council does not value agricultural land usage as it supports Agricultural Land Reserve subdivision, even though it is in contravention of the Official Community Plan (OCP).
It is indeed naive to believe that endorsing such a course of action will not have far-reaching implications and set a precedent, for as surely as night follows day, the floodgates will open for applicants whose eyes are solely on their bank accounts, and the “gold” accumulating therein.
About $200,000 was budgeted to establish the OCP, which was a pointless financial exercise, as it appears councils change it at whim. So why not abolish the OCP thereby saving taxpayer dollars. The OCP was a long process with public input and is due to be revisited in 2013, which will certainly cost another large amount.
Mayor Ted Adlem implies that because the applicants are long-time residents, and descendants of “pioneers,” that they should receive special privilege and entitlement because of their lineage, which is irrelevant as this is a land use issue. To whom one is related should not be of any importance.
Are not all laws, rules and regulations supposed to apply to everyone equally, be they recent immigrants or of historic descent?
Jeanette Smith
Silverhill
