Editor: The following is an open letter to the Township of Langley mayor and council:
With reference to the subdivision of the community of Brookswood-Fernridge, I should like to introduce a novel approach.
Considering that the bottom line for land speculators and developers is idealistically pecuniary, may I suggest that they could realize a greater profit margin to their enterprise by adopting the following procedures.
The fixation upon 7,000-square foot lots is not merely retrograding to their financial game but also does not allow for the retention of forests, wildlife habitat or respect for the aquifer.
For argument’s sake and mathematical simplicity, let’s say a 7,000-square foot lot has a monetary profile of $500,000; double that amount for a quarter acre lot — $1,000,000 — and by the time a subdivision is comprised of a majority of 7,000-square foot lots, some 10,000 square foot, and even perhaps the odd half acre lot, a developer will possess a few 7,000-square foot lots in his back pocket already recompensed — pure gold.
There is a market for these larger parcels of land, which would encompass the valued treed areas, those trees would be protected in perpetuity by builder and homeowner as would the lot sizing.
Real estate agents may have a fewer number of properties to sell, but commissions would be higher as, of course, would be the ruthless competition for listings. But that should not affect the profit margin already in the wallets of the speculator.
This analysis may be at risk if the developers also wish to make coin on construction and sales, but one asks how much wealth does one wish to accrue before the obtaining of silver becomes decadent in comparison to the healthy survival of a community and all its inhabitants?
An honest approach equals easier implementation and greater acceptance; and where usury becomes the norm moral bankruptcy follows, if it does not indeed already exist.
Many things are more important than money, not the least of which is the trust people place in their elected officials.
Martin Allen,
Brookswood