Editor:
The majority of residents in the Marina Garden neighbourhood are relatively new to Ladner. We love our neighbourhood and consider Ladner one of the most livable communities in the Lower Mainland.
We commend Mr. Chan, the landowner, for providing a neighbourhood, to this point in time, that most communities in the Lower Mainland would envy. Most of them don't know we exist.
We are a single-family community with some townhouse development. In other words, we are what Ladner is and we want to keep it that way.
Unfortunately, a development application has been submitted that is completely different to the development plans under which we understood were to be followed when we purchased our residences.
The development application is almost a carbon copy of the proposal submitted at a Delta council workshop last October. The residents of the Marina Garden neighbourhood were informed of the contents of this proposal and at their AGM last October directed the executive to meet with council to express their concerns:
1. Density - Almost four times what is currently present in the neighbourhood is totally unacceptable.
2. Building structures and height - Five-storey apartment buildings in the area are unacceptable. A development of this nature does not exist in the residential areas of Ladner. The absence of this is possibility the very reason why we moved here.
3. Parking - The proposal is a disaster.
4. Traffic problems - Ladner, you have no idea what's in store for all of us.
To this point in time, the following has happened:
1. Our residents packed the council chambers last October to deliver the "message." Council is well aware of the problem and the potential injustice to the residents and to Ladner in general.
2. Both MGEL and Polygon Developments were well aware of our position yet they have submitted a plan for development that we feel will be strongly challenged by the majority of the residents.
3. The executive will be meeting in the very near future to plan and execute aggressive strategies. If the developers think the majority of our neighbourhood will sit idly by and watch the very character of our neighbourhood destroyed, they are in for a big surprise. We will fight this proposal with vigour and we expect to win.
Stan Lawson President Marina Garden Homeowners Association
