Dear Editor:
I have been reading the opinions of residents who are opposed to the heritage conservation area (HCA) in Queen’s Park.
The “evidence” quoted is filled with half truths, misquotes and non-factual statements. The most glaring “fake news” is based on a paper developed by the Shaughnessy Heights Property Owners Association that said values were lost on homes sold in Shaughnessy because of the HCA, when in fact there were several mitigating factors (eg. pending demolitions, 15 per cent property tax) that intervened during the HCA process.
Their extreme opposition the HCA is very well known and resulted in five of their members suing Vancouver to stop the HCA. They lost on all parts of their suit.
The bottom line for the homes used in the Shaughnessy paper was that they had a 13.2 per cent increase in assessed value the next year. I would point out that these Shaughnessy homes averaged a selling price of $8.5 million and lot sizes averaged 16,000 square feet.
I would urge readers to go New Westminster city web pages to read for yourself the data being used to develop the HCA, in New Westminster, as well as data from other jurisdictions in B.C. and Canada that have had a HCA in place for decades with no ill effects.
Steve Norman, New Westminster
