EDITOR,
Re. Taicheng Development Proposal of Britannia Beach
Absent a comprehensive growth strategy for the corridor, of which transportation is a key component, we are left with piecemeal developments that lack cohesion and foresight. Immediately at issue in Britannia with the proposed development by Taicheng is realizing the MOH-planned highway routed through Britannia.
Many of the new residents who purchased and built homes on property immediately adjacent to the right of way are hopeful this never happens. That is one of the immediate conflicts which Taicheng will face. Another is the increased density they seek. For me as a resident activist who fought decades for remediation of the pollution and for security of tenure in our community, it makes sense to entertain a higher density to avoid building another bedroom community extension of the Lower Mainland. That means that there needs to be an integral part of the plan which creates jobs locally in order to support changes in the Official Community Plan and to permit zoning changes to density as requested - not later pie in the sky, but design and build within the first stage of the development. Then there is the elephant in the room, rail transportation. I have been a vocal advocate of rail transportation since moving here from living in Germany in 1984.
First Nations need to take the initiative and re-establish their interrupted utility of the old "grease trails" that linked communities up through the corridor we call Sea to Sky and create a rail passenger and freight service. One of the more intelligent (though I wonder if intentional) changes brought about when B.C. Rail was gutted and the freight service sold to CN, was that the monopoly B.C. Rail enjoyed was broken and "tranched." The rail tracks and land no longer belong exclusively to that company which holds the commercial freight contract. This leaves room for First Nations to assert their displaced right of access to the rail lines that pass through their territories and participate in the benefit by creating such a service.
Looking elsewhere in the world we see that rail is one of the most significant future transportation modes. It is green and sustainable. We have an opportunity to plan this one right and avoid what happened to Surrey when 1,000 small developments are allowed to proceed without an overall growth strategy and eye to the future. Building consensus may be a tedious route but we need to make the time to start getting it right. The question begs, can we do this without the benefit of a regional growth strategy?
Ralph Fulber
Britannia Beach
