Please add my name to the growing list of people in North Saanich who have written to protest the numerous housing units being rushed along the approval process by our municipal council.
This is an ad hoc process without comprehensive planning, pushed through by the council majority without regard for the opinion of many residents in the district.
Meanwhile the review of our Official Community Plan and policy development that could address the lack of affordable housing are avoided.
Development for development’s sake is a divisive direction for our council to take. The idea that such development broadens the tax base has frequently been disproven.
The case being made for this large-scale development is that it is to be affordable for people employed on the Peninsula who are currently commuting.
I don’t accept that these housing units are going to address the need for affordable housing. How many of them really are affordable or really needed? The recent consultation questionnaire simply asked us to say yes or no to higher density housing. This is not a community-building approach to such a controversial issue.
I believe that the current process of approvals is the beginning of a slippery slope that will change our unique, rural municipality forever.
Do we really want to see the growth of urban sprawl spreading across the Peninsula with North Saanich leading the way?
I do not believe that the majority of North Saanich residents think so.
Diana Chown
North Saanich