Editor,
Although I like the idea of a community hub, I would do it differently. The city-owned lot is not appropriate as green space (nearby new developments, current and future, provide plazas and parklets).
I would start planning to work with the owners of all properties in the entire block between Foster and Johnston and Russell and North Bluff, to create there a city centre community hub (in coordination with all future Semiahmoo Mall and area developments) which could: maintain a large open area where the parking for central plaza is now (thus allowing for a huge area combining plazas on both sides of North Bluff); maintain a view corridor from 16th south to Bryant Park; provide office and meeting and library and policing and other public services by way of long-term leases with the City of White Rock (thus plan to sell the current city hall property in about 10 years).
Also, such long-term planning and preparation would allow for referenda, over the next two election cycles, about the creation of a new city south of the Serpentine River: Surrey South-White Rock.
As for the city-owned lot at Russell and Johnston, I suggest a radically different housing project: a no-basement, five-storey building above a seven-metre tall, multi-use open area (e.g. year-round weekly farmers market), with three owners — the city, a builder, and each resident.
Ralph T. Sketchley, White Rock
