I am glad you published Mr. Harrison’s response to my commentary. It clearly shows his political agenda and as a member of the advisory planning commission he in fact has more say in development matters than most in our community, certainly more than I do.
I am glad he admits North Saanich is incomplete as a community and his statement that there is no reason to address that issue is clearly indicative of his generational belief that any and all change to the status quo is to be feared and rallied against.
I don’t recall seeing Mr. Harrison’s professional qualifications as a community planner or architect and based on the rationale of his arguments I am not sure he has even researched the issue objectively as all of his communications, whether it be at council meetings or in this publication, indicate as much.
This is not an issue about my bottom line, as he would like you to believe. It is about every single tax payer in North Saanich.
We recently lost almost one hundred thousand dollars per year for the next five years from our municipal budget. How do we address the shortfall?
For a community that survives on property tax income I can only foresee an increase on the horizon. Do we want to continue on this unsustainable path to maintain the status quo or should we be exploring alternatives?
Mr. Harrison has muddied the water several times in this publication. For example his indication that the current housing study was brought about by the pro development members of council.
That is incorrect, I was in attendance at the committee of the whole meeting when the mayor and her supporters on council insisted “the public needs to be informed” and thus the motion was approved and the study was undertaken not only to placate the mayor but also to take the temperature of the residents of our municipality on this issue.
I believe everyone should have the right to live and work in the same municipality if they so choose.
My generation has not had the benefit that his generation affords through the vast increases in land values in North Saanich over the last 20 years and we have to champion innovative ideas and ways of allowing the next generation of North Saanich residents the ability to thrive both socially and economically.
Diversifying the community is the first step. Let’s stop pretending to be something we are not.
We are a municipality of million dollar homes. If Mr. Harrison has his way nobody else would be allowed in unless they could afford it.
I have been to Sidney. I spend a large portion of my take home pay there because I can’t get the same services within the borders of North Saanich.
To state climate change is a red herring I find laughable as I will be dealing with the effects long after Mr. Harrison is gone.
Large lot single family development is going the way of the dodo, ask any developer or real estate financier, and my hope is that the NIMBY (not in my backyard) and BANANA (build absolutely nothing anywhere next to anything) attitudes that skew Mr. Harrison’s perspective, and certain members of North Saanich’s council will too.
Kyle Shick
North Saanich