Opinion

Volume 79 Issue No. 47

TheReView Wednesday, November 20, 1991 =" AG

:.

Sidney’s 38 questions:
Help shape the Town's future

If you don’t like the way the Town of Sidney is changing
and want some important buildings preserved, now is the
time.

If you want more affordable housing, less airport noise,
wider sidewalks, consolidated services, new floats off the
foot of Beacon and more parkland, someone is listening.

Almost every issue that a person could get really worked
up about, that has the potential to change the face of Sidney,
is included in a questionnaire that is being circulated to all
residents and property owners this week.

Even a question about allowing tall buildings, like a
five-storey hotel Granville West wants on the Anderson
property, is included in the 13-page, 38-question survey of
public opinion. To be fair, the questions are non-political in
nature. Rather than ask if you’d mind a five-story hotel, the
questionnaire asks if present height restrictions on the
waterfront should be 1) maintained, 2) raised, or 3) lowered.

Thomy questions with no easy answers are also asked.
Should basement/second suites in private homes be legal-
ized? Property owners and renters could discuss the pros and
cons of that question for days.

Major planning questions like one-way traffic on Beacon,
rapid transit and highway interchange access to Sidney (with
five options) are asked. Whether Sidney’s industrial area
should be segregated to the west side of the highway is
another question. If so, what kind of housing do you want on
former industrial lands on the east side, like the Ellehammer
property?

Municipal parks and recreation facilities round out a
comprehensive questionnaire that gives the impression
everything is open to discussion.

Either the current municipal council is confident they'll be
in power for the ten years it'll take to respond to the results, or
someone else had a hand in it.

Advisory planning commission chairman Reg Teeney
modestly says his nine-member panel spent three months of
hard work on it. Then, council members spent another month
ensuring that the concems and aspirations of all residents can
be addressed. It’s a commendable job done by people with
real expertise.

And the only way it will really work for the future is if
residents take some time to show they really care about the
Town of Sidney’s future.

Consider the questions carefully. Answer honestly, with
achieving the common good your intent. Consider the young
and the old, the wealthy retired and the working poor, the
single families and the ordinary folks struggling to get ahead.

It’s an intelligent questionnaire designed by intelligent
people. All council and the advisory planning commission
asks is that you lend it your intelligence.

Letters to the editor on issues of concern to our readers
are welcomed by The Review. All letters must be
addressed to the editor and bear an original signature of
ihe letter writer. Letters must contain the letter writers
street address and telephone number for verification
purposes and not for publication. Letter should not
exceed 300 words in length and may be edited for
clarity, legality, brevity and taste.

The Review

Serving the Saanich Peninsula

Since 1912
9726 - First St. P.O. Box 2070
Sidney, B.C. V8L3C9 Sidney, B.C. V8L3S5

656-1151
Publisher: Rory McGrath
Editor: Glenn Werkman

Reporters: Valorie Lennox Advertising: Brian Wyatt
Girard Hengen Corrie Morozoff

Production Manager: Tamie Sargeant
Office Manager: Lori Fitzpatrick
Circulation Manager: Wendy Dennison
AN ISLAND PUBLISHERS NEWSPAPER

s=Im, CCNA 4 BCYCNA
Rano! OM MUN GAMTISH COLUMBIA
r ITISH COLUMBIA
~~ P AND YUKON
e Gena Ep COMMUNITY
bs 8 ES NEWSPAPERS.
ci ASSOCIATION

“P77;
Py

at

Con'T READ “WC%...

—_—~_—_F

__ GOOD NEWS, LADIES AND
GENTLEMEN... INSTEAD OF WATING
FOR A CHANCE To LAND AT VICTORIA
INTERNATIONAL, WE'LL BE FIRST To

~—_5 use ThE PROPOSED WESTERN
COMMUNITIES AlePoRT!

MAYEE THEY LL Bull? iT e
ON Tor OF THE TRANS CANADA
CouNoOD OVERPASS... AND ADD A
LANES OF HIGHWAY UNDER
THE THING.« 3 A PONG)
pas nae ne Loe be et
I HOPE ILD IT ARO
LUGGAGE TAGS METCHOAN. ..

. THE GALLOPING
Goose" LINEAR

-. MAYBE A FLOATING
7 RUNWAY... BETWEEN FazT RODD.
“AILL ANDO OGDEN POINT... FOR
COMMUTERS WHO WANT TO
“TAXI! TO WORK...

AIRPORT. .2

Lest we forget

Editor:

We are grateful to The Review
for publishing Valorie Lennox’
interview with Jim Lang, (War
prisoners forced on midnight
march, Nov. 6)

His words refresh memories that
we must not forget for the sake of
the people of the world; and they
remind us how artificial the Gulf
War was in regard to our relation-
ships.

Desert boy

It is no wish of mine

That you should lie on heated
sand

Beneath a burning sun

Waiting for your fellow man

Or for you

To die.

Did love or hate determine
that you go?

Will love or hate bring
peace again to you?

God looks from everlasting
skies above

And offers love.

J. Stewart

Sidney

Don’t stop the
housing project

Editor:

As a resident and taxpayer in
Central Saanich I am appalled by
the proposition that the Saanichton
fairgrounds property not be used
for housing development.

Apart from the log structure on
these grounds, no one can seri-
ously argue that the dilapidated
stucco and frame structure and the
various sheds have any significant
value — historical or otherwise.

As we already have, within a
half-mile of this area, one of the
best park-recreation facilities on
the Peninsula, any suggestion that
these lands be used as a park is
duplicitous.

Central Saanich is committed to
use of the Cumberland Farm as a
new site for the Saanich Fair-
grounds. We have a significant
financial commitment to the
development of that site. The
funds from the sale of the Saani-
chton Fair Grounds would go a
very long way towards meeting
that commitment.

The development of sensible
housing on these lands will add
substantially to our tax base and
provide much needed accommo-
dation.

I urge council to follow the
plans for progress in this area
which were reasonably made over
the past five years and to get on
with the sale of the Saanichton
fairgrounds. —

CJ. (Kip) Wilson

Brentwood Bay

| second thai!

Editor:

Further to D. Elliott’s letter
(Time for end to Deep Cove con-
trol) in last week’s Review, con-
ceming the cacophonic concoc-
tions of the so-called North Saa-
nich Property Owners’ Associa-
tion, may I add a heartfelt “A -
MEN!”

Barbara Brennan

North Saanich

No worse sound
than silence

Editor:

Re your article on Page 5 of The
Review, Oct. 30, pertaining to par-
achuting and the carrier planes
(Parachute planes peeve residents).

What is going wrong with our
residents? I am a taxpayer, a senior
citizen and I have excellent hear-
ing.

I recognize the sound of that
small plane as soon as it
approaches Brentwood Bay. I love
the sound! It tells me that it is time
for my Saturday or Sunday enter-
tainment.

To observe the free falls and to
hear the banter between the chut-
ists is a welcome change from the
normal “Oh hum” air traffic.

Maybe the complainers have
outgrown this type of activity. Do
they not know there is now worse
sound on earth than silence?

Janet E.M. Vining
Brentwood Bay

Personal pledge
more appropriate

Editor:
If members of Central Saanich
council wish to donate towards the

ess

Commonwealth Games Society,
there is no reason they should not
do so, personally, out of their own

pockets. There is also no reason>~

why anyone else so inclined
should not do likewise.

Central Saanich council has no
mandate whatsoever to decide for
the ratepayers what is a meritori-
ous charity and to force those
ratepayers to support it through
property taxes to the disadvantage
of other appeals for assistance.

Let' the Commonwealth Games
Society accredit itself as a charita-
ble organization, so that donations
may be income-tax free, and make
its own independent canvass of the
public. The Society will be
rewarded in proportion to the mer-
its of its cause.

G.M. Ewan

Saanichton

Let’s enjoy this
beautiful place

Editor:

I feel compelled to write with
respect to the articles “Parachute
planes peeve residents” and
“‘Town meeting will focus on
floats,” The Review, Oct. 30.

It would appear that our com-
munity is condemning the fact that
people wish to enjoy recreation
during their leisure hours, be it
skydiving, flying aircraft or boat-
ing.

Specifically with respect to the
complaint about the skydiving and
the noise associated with it, | can

think of many noises which dis

turb the peace a lot more than the
plane.

I am thinking of such things as
loud music being played by several
homeowners at the same time;
lawn mowers going from dawn till
dusk: chain saws cutting up tree
trunks for a supply of winter
firewood; Skil saws whining as the
owner puts an addition on to his
home, etc. etc.

Let me remind you that if the
parachute area was not “active,”
then there would likely be many
more planes in that area as student
pilots practice forced landings and
low level navigation over a
sparsely populated area.

I am not involved in parachut- 3

Continued on Page AS

yy:

re