Reflections on being #331

Well, I did it, with only a few small vocal tremors. I stood up #331, and spoke in front of Council, in a room with people in red hats waving little hand size placards, and people with green shirts, who spent a lot of time rolling their eyes behind me.

Most helpful, big smiles on the faces of the council members, Sylvia's smile, and Mayor Jackson's smile stood out, but there were others. I was very grateful as it made it easier to speak. Thank you, Mayor and Council.

Like the woman who spoke a few numbers before me, I wore a purple hat and boots, to reflect a mix of green and red. We wore purple on purpose. We felt conflicted.

There's two parts to this deal. I like the donation of the land and it's subsequent maintenance, but it's tied up with an unacceptable development of 20% with its 950 homes.

950 homes in the wrong place, plunked smack dab in the middle of two low density neighbourhoods with about 600 houses in each. The impact on these two neighbourhoods is dramatic, in the build-out and on-going. The cost to the closest neighbourhoods can't have been calculated.

I wish the two issues to be treated separately. One should not be contingent on the other.

Whether the donation is 80% or 100%, I'm ok with that part. If it's 80%, I'd be prepared to live with a few estate homes, with hobby farming and horses maybe as that used to be a big part of life in Beach Grove and Boundary Bay.

Why not a town centre with more people, more density, one that's vibrant, alive, safe, one that is re-designed so it isn't necessary to traipse across several major intersections, risking life and limb, whipped by the prevailing wind and rain?

A town centre should have character, and feel welcoming. Where there are people out and about in the evening, even in the winter. Where when you drive through, you want to park diagonally, to get out of your car and look in a shop window or walk and talk. It sounds like the design of the 20% Southlands is exactly this. So why not move that design to the town centre, and built it there instead?

What would I want to see? I'd like to rent a single level suite with street access, pet friendly, with a little patio out front where I can sit and people watch. What good is it to me to live down by the border, miles from services, in a secondary town centre, without public transit, down a hill from town when I'm old? I want to be in the middle of things, with services within walking distance, and I want to feel safe to walk at night with my dog, just like I do now in Beach Grove.