Editor:
I was at once dismayed and concerned about the front-page article (New Westminster Record, March 23, 2023) regarding Connaught Heights community plan. It’s great that people (in particular, Connaught Heights residents) want to be involved and show concern for the current situation and eventual development for our community.
There were many open house/meetings at our community school and elsewhere in the city to look at proposed ideas, plans, community input, mapping and general conversations about the future development of Connaught Heights. It is a community of roughly 2,000 people. Like others, it has a diverse population and ideas where not everyone completely agrees with any one direction, but work together to find solutions.
My understanding, as with many in the neighbourhood, including the Connaught Heights Residents Association, is that these plans had been more or less already adopted by the city. I disagree with Patrick Johnstone’s comments regarding the plan lacking a “universal voice.” There were many well-attended community meetings put on by the city with many people openly sharing thoughts and ideas and redrawing maps that seemed to aim towards a level of consensus which was finally adopted by the city as part of the “official plan.” Without consensus, this plan would likely never have been adopted.
As noted in the article, there is no one developer involved in developing the area, and my understanding is that land assembly is essential for any developer to look at building in the community. This means that people are ready and willing to sell their homes to developers ripe for the potential of profit. This is a lengthy, expensive (community) process, and my take is that there is other “low-hanging fruit” currently more advantageous for developers to pursue. There is no “bold vision” from the city; it was/is a plan that was developed over many hours, many community meetings and input from residents that drove the plan. To suggest otherwise is an insult to the people and countless hours of discussions that drove this plan in the first place.
My question is: Where is the official community plan that so many people in the community and city staffers worked on? Does the plan need to be revisited? Updated post-pandemic? Likely, but please let’s not waste everyone’s past best efforts that went into the makeup of the official plan.
Mike Walmsley, past VP, Connaught Heights Residents Association
📢 SOUND OFF: Do you want to see more development in Connaught Heights? What would you like the city to do to move plans forward? Send us a letter.
