The Editor,
Re. “Plans for more on Burke Mt.” (The Tri-City News, May 10).
Coquitlam Coun. Mae Reid said: “You cannot build on a mountain and have one main road down.” She added: “We have fire trucks that need to get in there.”
My question for council is why single out a mountain area for more than one access? Park Ridge Estates, at the top of Oxford Street, has been on the mountain for 27 years without emergency access from a through road. According to the planning department, there is to be a new bridge over the Coquitlam River as well as over Hyde Creek to allow access up and down the mountain from both Pipeline Road and Coast Meridian, making for more than one road. Surely the layout of the new streets will accommodate access to either of these through roads.
As part of the same article under “Oxford issues,” Coun. Teri Towner said she spoke to a resident who knew the road was being extended when they bought their home and “signed the petition anyway.” People are certainly allowed to change their minds and perhaps the individual realized the amount of traffic, noise, pollution and change to a way of life she was being faced with if the road is extended up the mountain. I also signed the petition.
The petition was to stop turning this residential street, presently a cul-de-sac, into a throughway — a street for emergency vehicle access that one day will allow up to 2,750 people living in 950 homes vehicular access to a mature, fully developed, quiet residential area.
Having lived on Oxford Street close to David Avenue, I can assure your readers that Oxford is a steep, twisty, blind-cornered street with five cul-de-sacs. Because of blind corners, drivers have difficulty pulling on to and off Oxford as well as reversing out of their laneways onto the road. When the winter ice and snow cover this road, it is even more dangerous, especially at the lower end, where cars start up the mountain from a traffic light — and that’s with only 197 homes in the subdivision.
I moved into Park Ridge Estates in 2001 and I knew Oxford was the only access road to the top of the cul-de-sac. The Coquitlam River is on one side and Hyde Creek is on the other. I believe all the residents have signed the petition not to open the road to the Hazel-Coy extension and the future development of this area on Burke Mountain. Is anyone at city hall listening?
Timon Azmier, Coquitlam
