The Editor,
Re. “End destruction of trees” (Letters, The Tri-City News, Jan. 27).
This letter is directly related to council facilitating demolition of good homes in established neighbourhoods to allow construction of grossly oversized structures.
Coquitlam council recently amended building bylaws in an effort to show it is listening to residents by way of curbing the size of new homes. At that time, it was agreed by most councillors that these amendments did not go far enough.
This is borne out by people like Robert Horton taking the time to write a letter to the editor. In 2012, Coquitlam’s mayor and council unanimously approved increasing allowable lot coverage to 45%.
Trees that are in the building envelope are not protected from coming down. When excavations are deep, the required shoring of sidewalls means even more trees come down due to root damage.
At minimum, we still need to reduce allowable lot coverage and maximum allowed roofline height. Coquitlam has the highest roofline height anywhere in B.C., at 36 feet.
I urge all who want to stop the proliferation of monster houses, want to keep our healthy urban forest canopy and want to maintain the character of our established neighbourhoods and their viewscapes to phone, write and visit city hall. Rest assured, developers in favour of monster houses and ultra-high density highrises are.
Are council and engineering staff working for residents or for those who can afford the time to make elaborate PowerPoint presentations and healthy campaign donations? These entities are relishing in the fact they have three more years with a compliant council. We cannot wait another three years for the next election, call now. Letter writers such as Mr. Horton can’t do it by themselves.
Ken Holowanky, Coquitlam
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DEAL WITH ALL THE EMPTY HOUSES
The Editor,
There are several houses in my Coquitlam neighbourhood sitting empty. One right across the street sold in June 2015 and no one is living there yet. Down the block, another one has been empty for years.
Why not do an inventory and see what is going on with housing in the Tri-Cities? Ask everyone to report empty houses and get them investigated.
Who is insuring these empty houses? Don’t the insurance companies care or are they not insured?
Would you want an empty house in your neighbourhood, never mind one that is not insured?
It’s time government woke up and took care of Canadians and their neighbourhoods full of houses that should be filled with Canadian families.
Kerry Young, Coquitlam
