Dear Editor:
We have lived at 416 Kelly St. for 39 years. Our intentions are to live out our lives in this house. We raised two daughters here and now we have two grandchildren.
All of us take pride in Sapperton. Over the years we knocked down our old house and built a new house to fit within the history of this, the oldest community in the province.
We have been good residents, we have been proud supporters of our community, and we have been very active volunteers over this community, this city and to the special needs of those less fortunate.
To change the official community plan from residential to industrial is a huge intrusion into our neighbourhood.
Over the 39 years, we have seen lots of changes - some good, some not so good. This change - not so good!
The city planner advised us that the hospital has future plans to replace some of our homes along the north side of Sherbrooke, with medical, institutional and commercial buildings.
He suggested this would serve us as a nice "buffer" zone from the hospital? We don't want a "buffer" zone. What it would give our neighbourhood is more buildings, more traffic, more parking problems and more people.
We don't need any more of this! While the city has improved the parking for us and done a good job, we, the residents and Sherbrooke Street, do not need more traffic. Removing the parking has not stopped the traffic, it has increased the traffic looking for parking! (We won't get into the "rat running" - that's another issue!)
We will, however, mention the daycare issue which will arise if EFry succeeds with its plan.
It does not matter whether they pick up and/or drop off in the lane or on Kelly Street - the corners at Columbia, Kelly Street or the lane are bad now - let's just introduce some preschoolers and those that are racing to and from work. Makes good sense, right?
As I write this, I keep thinking: "Is something missing here?" EFry has stated that they can't afford to stay in the blue building at this present time, but they want to buy the adjacent properties at 273/275 Sherbrooke St., they want to build a new building and still occupy and operate the blue building. What? Is there another agenda here? Is there another force behind this?
Let's just leave this historic neighbourhood as it is. To the mayor and council, we have given you our support - what we need is for you to support us.
Dale and Diana Scribner, New Westminster
