To the editor;
Re: “Queue-jumping developers in Clayton rankle city councillor,” Feb. 13
Mayor Watts and Councillor Rasode are not alone in their concern over the decision made at the Feb. 3 council meeting to allow several developers’ applications for re-zoning to move ahead in advance of the approval of an NCP for the area. It was noted in the corporate report that there were developments approved outside of the NCP already and in my view those approvals will be used as leverage to get these ones approved. I would respectfully request that Council not go further down this road as it sends the wrong message to developers and I fear there will be no end to applications like this.
I take exception to the statement attributed to a real estate agent speaking on behalf of one of the property owners involved where he claims that “there is very little single family lots available”. Most certainly this is not the case. Late last year I attended a presentation of three concept plans for development of an area in Clayton called Aloha Estates. All three plans included single family lots. My own NCP has seen approval of four developments over the past year totalling over 130 single family lots.
Given concerns raised by Engineering, Parks and Rec, Surrey School District and Planning in addition to the “challenges” already faced in Clayton – I am disappointed and ask that council revisit their decision and hold firm on development until an NCP has been approved.
Linda Stromberg
Surrey