re: Royal Bay plan panned (News, Sept. 27) Kudos to Colwood’s Planning and Land Use Committee for their recent unanimous recommendation to deny the owners a density increase for their proposed project at 467 Royal Bay Dr.
Official community and neighbourhood plans are developed to not only provide clear criteria for the orderly development of a community but should also serve as documents that can be relied upon for those who wish to purchase a home or purchase land for the purposes of developing it.
I strongly believe that one of the key functions of a municipal council is to ensure that any proposed development within their municipality substantially complies with the municipality’s official land use bylaws, particularly when it comes to the criteria of density and building height. A council’s failure to do this will eventually lead to the polarization of the community and a justified mistrust of its elected officials.
On the other hand, all those tasked – staff, committees and council – with the responsibility to adjudicate land development applications must be open-minded to applications with moderate variance requests.
Ian Phillips
Langford