Editor: The Southlands proposal puts fill requirements at 60,000 truckloads. This translates to 120,000 oneway truck trips through Tsawwassen.
Add to this all the material-carrying trucks with lumber, masonry, cement, road tar, gyproc, etc. and the one-way trips through town could reach over 200,000.
We're told these trips will be spread over many years, however the bulk of the trips will be required in the first three years. Council allows contractors to work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. This will allow 100 one-way truck trips per day through town, six days a week, for three years.
Obviously, safety has not been an issue with our council, but ICBC will be concerned. ICBC has 14 levels of risk for different townships in B.C. They measure congestion and accident rates. When all these heavy-duty trucks start rolling through town, the accident rates will climb and car insurance premiums will rise. All neighbourhoods will be affected as residents at the south end of town will attempt to find an exit path.
Not only will we live with horrific traffic problems, but it will also cost us more. There's no other way, unless (perish the thought) a road is built through the Boundary Bay community.
Delta council has repeatedly ignored our "no" votes on this issue. We all need to attend the Oct. 28 public hearing in large numbers to stop this lunacy once and for all. The developer has been persistently returning to council knowing we are too busy to keep saying "no" time after time.
The Century employees and sub-contractors will be sitting in the front rows as usual doing their rah-rah routine, but if this project is allowed to proceed, we will all pay a steep price for many years to come.
Remember the developer and Delta council will have no accountability when there are road accidents or if there are fatalities. If the plan is allowed to proceed, the potential for Delta citizens having to pay for a new township access road is very high.
John Mayor
