Editor: For the past nearly nine years I have been working on subdividing land that I have owned since 1964 at 56 Avenue and 238 Street, together with my neighbour.
There is an urban myth circulating that the new and extremely costly reinforced wall recently installed by the Township of Langley on 56 Avenue, near Tall Timbers Golf Club, is a result of new houses being built on our land (and) that there is deemed to be a risk of the hillside collapsing and sliding down onto 56 Avenue.
Before the subdivision process began and was approved, leading experts surveyed the site.
The whole property is sand and gravel based and has stood intact since the last ice age — approximately 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.
The trees and foliage on the bank has, over many decades, solidified itself. Now, because TOL engineers decided to spend our hard-earned tax dollars on some bureaucratic “let’s spend some money” project, the hillside looks less compact.
There was nothing wrong with the old gabions, that the late Jim MacRobbie and TOL crew installed years ago.
Yes, the new installation is great to look at but in my opinion (is) a waste of our hard-earned tax dollars.
It doesn’t even go all the way along the embankment, but stops where there is a hole created by people who used to illegally shovel gravel out for their home use.
Sam Omelaniec,
Langley