The Editor,
Re. "Is a new amphitheatre a good use of tax dollars?" (Opinion, The Tri-City News, Feb. 4)
Thank you for your opinion piece on some of the issues which arise because of the proposed amphitheatre at Lafarge Lake.
Unfortunately, it is not just noise pollution in the immediate neighbourhood which will be an unfortunate effect of holding concerts at this venue.
The Coquitlam River Valley is highly sensitive to noise echoes.
Even now, when fireworks are set off in the Town Centre Park, the noise in my yard (and I live off the top of Coast Meridian Road) sounds as if someone is discharging a shotgun nearby. Over the years, as the Westwood Race Track grew noisier and noisier, noise pollution across the Coquitlam River Valley became unbearable, with sounds measured at 80 decibels on our sun deck continuing for hours on weekends.
Yet, Coquitlam municipal staff seem quite ignorant of this potential for wrecking misery on the residents of Burke Mountain and now hundreds of residents here may be adversely affected, not just the dozens made miserable by Westwood Race Track as in previous years.
I urge the city of Coquitlam's council to direct city staff to undertake seriously scientific tests concerning the effects of potential stadium noise on those of us who live on Burke Mountain, a group of people heretofore ignored by staff in preparing for this project.
Maggie Fankboner
Coquitlam
