Editor:
This letter is with respect to a City of Delta initiative to clear out a section of city property between 6th Ave. and 8a Ave. on 56th St. in Tsawwassen.
Forest by the Bay is a community that is bounded by 56th St. on the west side and Boundary Bay cemetery on the northern side.
The city is eying removing about another 100 trees along the Forest by the Bay span, (between 6th and 8a avenues) to emulate the wide walkway bordering the Southlands, just south of 6th Ave., touting this to be a requirement for bicycles and pedestrians.
This is a fallacy in my opinion. There is a distinct paucity of bicycles or pedestrians using this corridor.
The road traffic on 56th St. has increased considerably since the Southlands has become a reality and will become even more dense and vastly noisier, I suspect, once the Southlands has reached its full capacity.
Residences facing 56th St. depend on the noise pollution reduction provided by the density of the double tree banks of the current walkway while the property fencing, established by the inception of the subdivision development, facing 56th St., is rather limited due to the protection provided by the trees, both in terms of privacy and security.
Removing the trees and creating an expanded walkway is hardly called upon for the use of bicycles (which will require the use of 56th St. after 8a Ave.).
When maintained properly by the city, this entire strip has, and always has had, a charm of its own, far from the antiseptically barren “parkade” walkway as provided by the Southlands development.
There absolutely is no benefit to the community by its removal and is defiantly incongruent with Delta’s own established tree policy.
Peter Pichler
