Editor:
I would like to respond to Helen Kettle's and Douglas Bolen's recent letters to the editor.
The letter sent in seemed to be a very personal attack on a new member of the community. Bolen seems to think that just because a woman is married, she should have the same opinions as her husband.
This is the 21st century and he needs to understand that a woman can hold any opinion she wants. In this case, the spouses have similar opinions.
Or, is this a case of disclosure that was so upsetting? If this is true and he feels everyone should reveal their relationship with a letter writer if they speak against the rezoning of the Southlands, then there also needs to be full disclose of any relationship with Century Group staff or any personal or business relationships with Sean Hodgins if they write in support of a rezoning. Seems silly, doesn't it.
As for Kettle, let me point out a couple of incorrect facts in her letter.
First, Coun. Robert Campbell, incorrectly took Southlands the Facts to task for a flyer that was sent out to the community, a flyer that had printed on it a facsimile of the questionnaire given out at the public meeting put on by Delta.
The group that produced that flyer is Save the Southlands, a group of residents that for 30 years has kept residents informed of the many development proposals put forward by Century.
In "fact" you can likely thank them for the expansion of Boundary Bay Regional Park. It was through their hard work and presentation of environmental facts, that former Delta councils have refused development proposals on that property.
Campbell and the others who supported this inaccurate accusation owe Southlands the Facts a deep apology. Yes, they support the same cause but they are totally different and independent of each other.
Campbell did not do due diligence in this case and as a lawyer he should know better than to publicly and wrongfully make accusations against someone.
I'd also like to point out that it was Delta's CAO, George Harvie, who told representatives of Southlands the Facts, that indeed, Delta could enact a bylaw refusing the building of greenhouses on the Southlands. That is a fact. Legal opinions are just that: opinions, not fact.
Maybe Kettle doesn't know that in the 1990s George Hodgins sued Delta council and some councillors personally after they rezoned a 56th Street strip of the Southlands from duplex to agriculture. At the time Delta received legal advice that the rezoning would not hold up in court but they proceeded anyway, knowing it was what the majority of residents wanted. The suit was dismissed with costs to be born by Hodgins.
Truth be told, Southlands the Facts is correct and no amount of semantics and legal opinion shopping will change that. It is some Delta councillors that are misrepresenting the facts and that makes one wonder if this rezoning application has already been decided by some members of Delta council.
This brings me to another point: There has never been any public discussion or talk about greenhouses from Sean Hodgins or representatives from Century. Indeed this is more of a whispering campaign and to see our council participating and reinforcing this seems rather ridiculous.
If Century or Hodgins has had talks with Delta about this, then the public has a right to know about it. If not, then for heaven's sake, until the developer says openly he will put greenhouses on the Southlands and has had discussions with greenhouse operators who have given him a green light to go ahead, quit wasting time and money on it.
As to Kettle's 15-year build-out comment, let me point out this proposed development will require over 100,000 tandem dump truck movements through the heart of Tsawwassen to bring in the required fill alone. Those dump trucks will travel down 56th Street to 12th or 4th avenues.
There is just no other way to bring in the fill or any other development related traffic. And what that fill will do to the surrounding areas, including Boundary Bay's sensitive ecosystems has not been adequately studied.
Hodgins has just had approval of an extensive townhouse/condo, assisted living and commercial development on 56 Street. Additionally there is a 60-unit condo development planned on 12th Avenue along with another condo development off 12th near the Beach Grove Golf Club, infill projects throughout Tsawwassen and the Tsawwassen Springs development with its mix of housing. These developments will be bringing in the equivalent of or more development than proposed for the Southlands.
We live on a virtual island, which means, unlike South Surrey, Tsawwassen has only Highway 17 and 56th Street to move traffic in and out of town. The fact is the Southlands is not required to meet the housing demands Kettle referred to.
Unfortunately for Hodgins, his father took procession of farmland with an expectation he could develop it. Residents, both then and now, have clearly stated for over 30 years they do not want that land developed.
It has been barely over a year since the Tsawwassen Area Plan was finalized, an area plan that included the continuation of an agricultural zoning designation for the Southlands and endorsed by every member of the Tsawwassen Area Plan Committee, save one. The only dissenting member was Kettle.
That of course does not make Kettle a bad person. Rather she is clearly out of step with the majority of Tsawwassen residents. Unfortunately name-calling and outlandish accusations leveled against those that do not want development on the Southlands seems to be the go to strategy when inconvenient facts are presented by naysayers.
As for Campbell's accusations against Southlands the Facts, a public and sincere apology is definitely in order by him and all those at the council table who supported him. It is after all what Campbell demanded and received from a Delta resident.
Surely there are more pressing matters for council to attend to than using taxpayers' money to put staff resources into an item that has not come before council.
Debbie McBride
