Editor:
As a Tsawwassen resident for the vast majority of my 55 years, and being in the construction industry since graduating from SDSS, I have seen a lot of what I like and don’t like about other communities in the Lower Mainland.
Now that the City of Delta has had its hand slapped for not doing its fair share of development, it’s time to have a very candid look at what we want progress to look like.
I am speaking only of Tsawwassen as that is where I know every cherished single-family neighbourhood.
In my opinion, growth needs to happen around our town core. The town centre mall needs to go up higher (six to 12 stories) than we currently allow and the OCP needs a very quick and direct amendment to rezone current streets close to downtown — like Hunter Road, Malvern and Malibu Pl and others — to a much higher density to lower the pressure on our surrounding neighbourhoods going from single-family to multi-family. A lot of us like our typical Tsw lot sizes and want to keep our neighbourhoods that way. I believe secondary suites are definitely needed and possible coach houses where it may work.
I have worked with Century Group and The Toigo Family’s companies directly and indirectly over the past 30 years on a small scale. We should be proud to have local developers who are shareholders in the community taking pride in projects that they have to answer to in their neighbourhoods. We have all seen what Century has done with the Southlands and we have to believe they will put the same passion into the Town Centre mall redevelopment.
Now let’s see if Mayor and Council have the courage to make some major changes to the OCP to reflect what we want Tsawwassen to look like 20 years from now.
I say all this as a resident, not as a business owner.
Kevin McDonald
