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Bare land strata allowing density to increase beyond civic plans

Editor: Despite having an official community plan, and the associated Ladner, North Delta and Tsawwassen area plans, do not assume these represent what is happening in Delta. Many people will be unfamiliar with the term "bare land strata.

Editor:

Despite having an official community plan, and the associated Ladner, North Delta and Tsawwassen area plans, do not assume these represent what is happening in Delta.

Many people will be unfamiliar with the term "bare land strata." Most will be familiar with the functions of a strata when associated with an apartment block or a development where all the dwellings are held by a common ownership.

In a bare land strata, however, ownership of the individual dwellings is fee simple and freehold. The narrow roads are private and are not adopted by the municipality.

Owners of homes in a bare land strata must pay a strata fee monthly or annually to cover road repair and replacement, street lighting, sewage and other infrastructure costs. Despite this expense, they are still required to pay exactly the same municipal taxes as all other owners in Delta.

Why then are we seeing a proliferation of applications for bare land strata developments? The obvious reason is the density of dwellings can be much greater than allowable under the official community plan.

That is because the road widths can be much less, and there are other relaxations and departures from the basic standards required elsewhere. An example of this type of development includes Tsawwassen Springs now under construction.

In Ladner and Tsawwassen, there are currently development applications to subdivide smaller single family areas into bare land strata. Each case involves private roads and maximum density. We may be seeing the proliferation of sub-standard road access, insufficient parking and other side effects.

Those who may wish to purchase homes in these developments need to recognize the open ended commitment for maintenance that is involved. Finally it seems entirely unsatisfactory they will be required to pay the same taxes as if they received full road upkeep from Delta.

The over-use of this type of development runs counter to the aims and objectives stated in our official community plan. It is yet another instance of how our mayor and council allow excessive variances from the community's stated wishes.

Peter Duffey