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Four Winds decision will tell us much about new Delta council

Editor: I attended the public hearing on the Four Winds proposal for the Southlands and was dismayed at the supporting reasons for proceeding with the project.

Editor:

I attended the public hearing on the Four Winds proposal for the Southlands and was dismayed at the supporting reasons for proceeding with the project. They included topics such as how great Four Winds was as a company, how tourists would like a destination such as that proposed, and that young people should have a nice place to sit and have a beer.

None of these are relevant to the matter at hand, and no one was disputing the points they made.

The appeal to “craft” beer and “restaurant” and “hops from the farmland” are PR hooks to distract from the nature of this proposal. This so-called craft brewery is a Trojan horse, bringing industrial processes to the heart of a residential community.

Do you want this industry in your area? I do not.

The proposed area for these new industries is made up of three very large buildings covering half the area allocated for commercial space. As city staff confirmed, once this zoning is changed, anyone can set up the industries allowed at any time. And as city staff also confirmed, this is not an application for a small “brew pub” or microbrewery, but instead is for a real brewery.

It is proposals like this – brought before a new council when not a single living unit has been built, with mischaracterization of the nature of the change and with extremely limited last minute notice of the public hearing – that cause citizens to become cynical and angry.

The scale is wrong, and the use is wrong. As was pointed out, there is no need for variance and zoning changes to open a restaurant, to serve craft beer or other alcohol, or to grow hops on the farmland. The change is needed for the industrial use.

These types of uses can easily degrade a community and will do so in this case as well. Surely we can have better communities than ones anchored by a large brewery and two more large buildings set aside for similar industries. This was not what was promised when council allowed the development. It is wrong to make these changes.

This is a new council. In making its decision on this proposal, we will learn much about it. Is it community minded and striving to make all of our communities livable and responsive to the citizens who live in them or is it in the pocket of special interests?

I am counting on council to do the right thing and deny the application.

Brian Crawford