I've just learned that Saanich has no intention of allowing a public hearing on the Aragon Development. I know some of you knew this already, but I needed to confirm this myself. The communications by the Province and Saanich to us the public have been blatantly and deliberately vague! Their reasons are:
· the current legislation prohibiting hearings under 'certain circumstances';
· the fact that the development apparently conforms to the OCP.
This is new, as the Province is now literally forcing the housing issue.
Don’t worry, this isn’t discouraging me and it shouldn’t you!
My post today was only going to be about just supporting the fact that our area is currently already supporting development right now, but I did get some very useful information today that I will mention further in this post.
Current development include the Haro development in the village (village, not city, right!), the construction of multi storey and multi units at the Doumac and Fenn intersections, as well as the recent Pinnacle build on the top of the gravel pit hill, the South part of the gravel pit highlighting the Jawl development as well as the townhomes at the top of the hill just before Alderley. There are also the four residential developments along Del Monte that are currently being completed and two big houses were just completed at the end of Helvetia. This is coupled with ALL the other developments currently under way or slated for development. I will spare you the list, but we have all seen them around.
SO MY POINT - WE ARE ALREADY DOING OUR PART FOR HOUSING HERE IN OUR COMMUNITY! Both in Saanich proper, and in Cordova Bay. Why the need for an out of control MASSIVE, totally inappropriate development of at LEAST 1165 units in our rural and semi rural community? Have we not learned anything from past poorly planned developments in the 1960s, 70s and 80s? I don’t get it.
I also heard that the Aragon developers after the meeting at Cordova Bay School on November 28 told Saanich that our community was all for the Gravel Pit development! Maybe we were all at the wrong meeting? 😊.
BUT......there is another possible avenue that we can use besides this petition. I am looking into, but don’t want to advertise this now, sorry.
However, we still need and want as MANY signatures as we possibly can. We are so close to 500 now!
My wife and I (yes, mostly my wife) are still handing out flyers. We are telling folks not to recycle but pass them on to anyone you think is interested. Again, all of your help is very appreciated!
Thank you all for doing all that you are doing. Please keep it going as we are getting some great momentum!
Best Regards,
Dan Horth