Two or three writers have severely chastised North Saanich council over a development property on Bourne Terrace. After reading these letters it certainly left the impression that perhaps council was acting improperly in view of the OCP. Councilor Browne took the brunt of the criticism with his opinion that this decision makes common sense.
After reading John Upward’s rebuttal and the response from Mike Stanlake from the North Saanich Advisory Planning Commission, it’s pretty clear this development had strong support from it’s nearest neighbours. It seems like council’s support of this development does make sense after all.
This situation mirrors the whole housing debate in North Saanich. Regardless of the naysayers there is general and even strong support for moving forward with housing options. The survey done in the last year clearly indicated so.
What we have is a vocal minority which is loud and presents only its self-interested point of view. I often wonder why this group would bother to expend so much energy to deter modest progress in our community.
No council is perfect but at least the majority of council in this term have taken a stand for what is inherently right: a welcoming and modestly growing community. For that they have been unnecessarily framed as opposed to our community plan.
J. A. Tomminen
North Saanich