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LETTER: Langley OCP update a sham if development allowed to squeeze in at 11th hour

A writer is upset Township might allow a commercial and multi-family project on 33A Avenue.
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Dear Editor,

What was the point to the Brookswood-Fernridge OCP update?

I would like to express my great dejection over the Brookswood-Fernridge OCP update and a current proposed development. On the draft OCP that was presented on May 16, the best part – in my eyes – was that all existing parts of the neighbourhood would have lots that were a minimum of 7,000 square feet across a street from them.

I was extremely dismayed to learn last week that there is a development proposal that was submitted on April 26, 2017. This applicant proposes to rezone properties from a suburban residential zone (SR-2) to commercial zone (C-2) and multiple-family residential (RM-2) for the development of three mixed-use buildings and 37-townhouse units.

This proposal is contradictory to what’s laid out in the draft OCP.

This applicant is trying to get in under the wire to develop on the basis of the 1987 OCP.

Residents in this area have been very vocal that we wanted to have stepped development from our existing homes to the planned higher density.

The planners listened!

They put 7,000 square foot lots along 33A Avenue as a sort of buffer between existing residents and the proposed townhouses. Now, this applicant is coming in at the 11th hour to skirt the draft OCP and wants to put mixed use buildings and townhouses on 33A Avenue.

That is NOT what residents asked for in the new OCP!

I understand that council has given staff guidance on how to handle all applications submitted before May 16, and that they are to be viewed under the 1987 OCP.

If that’s the case, then what was the point of spending months on an updated OCP only to reach the finish line but have applicants squeeze themselves under the line to get what they want because it’s NOT on the current draft OCP?

I will be completely discouraged with the whole OCP update process, if applications like this are allowed to move forward under the 1987 OCP.

As it is still early in this application’s process, I have urged council to amend its direction to staff in this case.

The whole update process will feel like a sham and a waste of time if this application is allowed to proceed under the old, repealed OCP.

Amy Morose, Brookswood