The Editor,
Re. "City has to act on too large houses" (Letters, The Tri-City News, Feb. 25).
We in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, and Port Moody do not have to have more monster houses built in our neighbourhoods.
Several years ago, the municipality of Delta limited the size of new North Delta homes to 3,552 sq. ft. If Delta can do it, so can we - we simply have to let our politicians and planners know that this is what we want.
Many people object to very large houses because of their appearance, their view-reducing bulk and their destruction of trees and pleasant gardens that were once kept on the lots.
But here are other reasons even more demanding of our attention:
Reacting to overconsumption of the Earth's resources, as a society we have adopted the guiding motto "reduce, reuse, recycle" and the most powerful of these words is "reduce." Consider the enormous amount of materials used to build a new, very large house. Consider, too, all the furnishings and appliances required for the house, and all the power consumed to heat or cool the house, year after year. If we value, as we say, reduction of our footprint upon the Earth, this egregious overconsumption is morally unacceptable.
Then there is the matter of a backyard. We are told more and more how important it is to get our children, and ourselves, outdoors to play. In fact, gardening has become one of the most popular hobbies. Future residents may very well want to grow their own vegetables so it is just plain unwise to cover up a lot with an enormous house.
Some people wish to have several generations of their families living together in the same house. This can be an emotionally satisfying way to live and is a lifestyle that must be possible in our cities. But in the Lower Mainland, there exist already many very large houses available for this purpose.
We do not have to have more monster houses built in the Tri-cities.
Jane Shoemaker, Coquitlam
