Editor:
Re: City backs 13-storey ‘tower’ near hospital, April 12.
The planning equivalent of a MOAB was dropped on the City of White Rock last week.
Across the street from Peace Arch Hospital, the city took an unlucky direct hit when a 13-storey project received first and second reading .
The ink on the official-community-plan review is not even dry, yet some councillors are tripping over themselves to approve this project and others that are more than twice the height shown in the OCP.
Council is sending the message that any developer has free reign to supersize their proposal by simply drawing an attractive rendering. Property prices will be bid up in other parts of the city in response, which in turn exacerbates housing-affordability issues.
The city should be articulating and defining community benefit needs, prior to giving project approval. If approval precedes establishing community benefit, then the city is left with a very weak bargaining position. We will be thrown a tidbit instead of a meaningful benefit. Concrete construction is more expensive, so any councillors’ aspirations for a meaningful quantity of affordable housing is unrealistic.
Are we to expect other projects that totally disregard the OCP? Does OCP stand for Official Community Plan or Only Conning Public?
One of the opportunities that the city has is to become a centre of excellence for health-related businesses. The recent vitality exhibition speaks to the vibrancy of the local health services sector.
The site on Finlay is a prime potential commercial site with easy access for people locally as well as those outside the community. Many of the sites with important commercial potential – ie. Martin and North Bluff – have been already being used up for residential purposes. We need a well-balanced community not just an agglomeration of structures housing the aging affluent.
Casualties of the MOAB (mother of all blunders) include: the credibility of the OCP; the creditability of four councillors; quality of life for nearby residents; the integrity of our city’s ‘brand’; housing affordability; a badly maimed negotiating hand and some lost commercial opportunities.
There will be other unanticipated consequences.
Stephen Christie, White Rock