Dear Editor:
I wish to thank the Summerland municipal council for the decision not to rezone the Banks Crescent land to high density use.
I particularly want to thank Ms. Boot, Mr. Holmes, Ms. Carlson, Ms. Trainer, and Mr. Barkwill who voted No, citing many of the reasons that so many citizens of Summerland brought forward.
For my part, I firmly believe the right decision for Summerland was made and I was very happy to see that Mayor Peter Waterman also agreed that with a five to two decision against the rezoning that council had made the right decision.
The development proposal brought forward by Mr. Gary Tamblyn and the Lark Group was the wrong proposal for the wrong area of Summerland and I think the many oral briefs in opposition that were very soundly and professionally presented helped convince council to make the right decision in this situation.
I also strongly feel that the Lark group and Mr. Tamblyn cannot have any misconceptions that more than ample time and discussion was given regarding their application for rezoning and that there were just not enough sound reassurances from them that this development would not pose serious risks to the Banks Crescent area, to the Shaughnessy Springs aquifer, to the B.C. Freshwaters Fisheries, and to the neighbourhood and transportation routes there.
I think it would also be more appropriate for developers such as Lark to be clear and definitive about their development proposals from the very beginning and to not give the appearance of stretching the truth beyond believability.
Even after the vote a Lark representative was indicating that only a very small minority of vocal citizens were opposed.
But if one attended the public hearing sessions less than a handful of proponents speaking in favour were from Summerland and I believe that if there were a large majority of citizens in favour then there would not have been the huge preponderance of speakers in opposition.
Terry Green
Summerland