Editor:
Re: Plans should provide some certainty, Murphy's Law, Aug. 15
Your editorial has hit the nail firmly on the head!
For some time developers and their frontmen, usually the architect, have put forward proposals that nibble away at area plans. A variety of tactics are used, ranging from citing the need for more housing in an area to the fact that the project, if rejected as submitted, would not be "economically viable."
Once an exception has been made, it then becomes a precedent for future proposals.
These community plans are created by municipal staff working with volunteers from the community and represent a serious commitment in time and effort. For developers to continually attempt to circumvent the provisions of these plans is an insult to the community.
Enough examples exist to show that they have succeeded in Tsawwassen and, recently, in Ladner. It would be beneficial to all concerned if developers and planners created projects based on what is permitted within the plan, rather than looking at maximum market advantage.
In the case of the recent project on 47A Avenue, a five-storey condo block, the developer has correctly gauged community resistance and changed his plans. Rolly Skov is to be congratulated on revising his plan and I look forward to viewing the contents prior to its approval by Delta council.
If nothing else, this project has been a catalyst in making Ladner residents more aware of what their community should look like.
David Roberts
