Wednesday. May 22. 1991 ~- North Shore News - 7

Dear Editer:

We are owners of the l4-acte
parcel of Riverside Terrace prop-
eriy, Whose development was
“dunmiped.”* to quote your May 1
front: page headline, by North
Vancouver District, Council, at
their April 29 meeting.

As) your. correspondent, Mr.
Millerchip, did not see fit ta seek
both sides of the story, we would
like to take this opportunity to
respond to his article and clarify a
few misrepresentations.

Our property is not Stanley
Park. It is a former sand and
gravel pit. It has been designated
for residential use under the Of-
ficial Seymour Community Plan.
The Riverside Terrace site houses
no significant wildlife or vegeta-
tion. It has in the past been a
source Of nuisance to the sur-
rounding area as a favorite site of
teenage drinking partics and dan-
gerous dirt bike racing.

Norecol Environmental Consul-
tants, in carrying out an en-
vironmental assessment on our
behalf, as requested by the
district, have stated that the prop-
erty is one of the few that they
have studied that holds no en-
vironmental merit. All district in-
frastructure is in place to provide
services to our development.

Due to the former gravei pit
operations, portions of our site
are unstable and potentiafly haz-
ardous. Our decision to fill and
regrade was based upon extensive
geotechnical and environmental
studies and would have restored
the original contours of the site.
Under current provincial legisla-
tion, in effect since 1977, gravel
pits must be returned to their nat-
ural state once operations cease.

Our development proposal was
arrived at after careful assessment
of public input from area
residents. It was to be a very low
density single famiiy subdivision
(3.6 units per acre vs. six allow-
able), featuring extensive public
open space, walking trails and
park space (15% vs. 5% re-
quired), and was to contain 50
large single family lois (9,200
sq.ft. average size vs. 7,200 sq.ft.

Losing control

Dear Editor:

Another immigration disaster!
And this one lands in our back
yard. (‘‘Iraqi flack buys property
in NVC,”’ Friday, May 10.)

Chuck Cook, that paragon of
the Tory Party, states that the
recently-arrived Iraqi, Mohamed
al-Mashat, (who jumped the
queue) ‘‘will be no drain on the
Canadian government and (he)
will probably make a useful citi-

n.”’ Considering that we were at

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minkmun alowed). The des chop.
ment wold nor only hase tito in
with, but would have enhanced.
the surrounding neighborhood.

Your actide notes that the
director of development, Mr.
Richard Plunkett, gave council a
“spirited and highly unustaf pres-
entation’ in his denouncement of
our propased development. iis a
certainty that we found Mr,
Pluvkett's presentation unusual.
in saat, in our 17 months ef deal-
ing with Mr. Plunkett and the
district, planning department, we
were assured of their support.

It was, in fact, on Mr.
Plunkett's assurance, in December
1989, that the property would be
brought into the current develop-
ment phase, that we purchased the
site!

The accusations that we planned
to clear-cut three parcels of land
adjacent tc the Seymour River,
build subsidized housing on the
adjoining municipal land, and de-
velop crown lands, are ludicrous.

Our development proposal is,
and always lias been, open to the
public’s scrutiny.

We have no control over any
development plans by the adjacent
property owners. Our clearing
operations, a normal part of site
servicing, would involve the
removal of the scrub alder
overgrowth on our site only. It
would also have resulted in the
creation of a new park and land-
scaped trail system, and the plant-
ing of some 350 trees. Our land-
seaping budget was to be 300-
400% that of industry standard
for a normal subdivision of simi-
lar size.

On our own initiative. public
information meetings, which were
very well attended, were held on
May 23, and Dec. 5, 1990. Why
Mr, Blair Wilson would state that
the neighborhood only became
aware of our developraent 72
hours before council was to sit is
a mystery. Mr. Wilson spoke with
us several times and attended our
Dec. 5 meeting where the same
plans that were before council
were presented. As Mr. Wilson
seemed to be a prominent area

of the borders

war with his former country, |!
wonder.

While on the subject, what
comment from Mr. Cook on the
other recent arrivals, by coal
train? Good citizenship material?
No security risk?

Canada no longer controls its
own borders.

Jeremy Daiton
Liberal Candidate
West Vancouver-Capilano

Riverside developers respond

spokesman, he owas) tnvited per-
senaliy fo participate with his
neivhbors and ourselves in diseus-
sions ower our plans and their
pessibtes impact on the
agighborhood, He refused.

Although all members of voun-
cil Were invited to attend and par-
ticipate in our public information
meetings, none did. We did. how.
ever, hold private meetings wiih
all members of council to discuss
our proposal, with the notable ex-
ception of Alderman Ernie Crist.
Ald. Crist refused to meet with us
privately on the grounds that he
did not wish to be seen as “im-
pure” by associating with devel-
Opers.

This attitude seems somewhat
less than responsible.

Ald. Crist’s comments regarding
our proposal’s lack of public in-
put indicate his knowledge of the
situation was minimal at best.

We do not claim to be philan-
‘thropists, and obviously our intent
in developing the site is to make a
profit. In order to obtain even a
small profit, or to recover our
costs, with council's decision to
delay development of our site un-
til 1996 to 2001, we will now be
forced to maximize the. site's
potential.

District. council members, who
are elected to serve the overall
public good, should take all fac-
tors into account when deciding
an issue, not those last few special
interest votes in the next election.

It is most unfortunate that the
loud voices of a few adherents to
the NIMBY (not in my back yard)
philosophy, whose only concern
seems to be a_ large public
backyard for their exciusive use,
are the ones heard by council.

It is also unfortunate that
council sees fit to spend the tax-
payers’ money to hire a superbly
qualified group of planners and
engineers and then ignores their
recommendations for fear of tos-
ing the votes of a vocal minurity.
Patrick Maguire
Riverside Terrace Realty Inc.

West Vancouver

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