Editor:
Listening to the June 6 Committee of the Whole presentation about the 100 Year-old Heritage House at 4501 Arthur Drive, I was dismayed to see the house inspector report say: “Besides aging, the lack of maintenance for a quite long time has caused significant damages to the property.”
One has to wonder about an owner’s negligent maintenance on this valuable showpiece of Ladner’s history, or was it purposely done to allow the building to deteriorate and hope for future redevelopment and a big cash win fall? If the property owner did not properly maintain and repair this house, how could they be trusted to build and maintain a new larger 52-unit building on this site?
There needs to be a better compromise solution for housing on this property.
Delta’s planning department specifically says: “Staff are encouraging the applicant to consider retention, restoration and integration of the existing heritage building with the proposed development and to engage a heritage professional to provide a more substantive heritage evaluation with possible mitigation and restoration recommendations.”
Bev Yaworski
