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Port Moody councillors were out of line

The Editor Re. "PoMo turns down housing" (The Tri-City News, Jan. 28). As one of the residents of Heritage Woods who spoke at the public hearing on Jan.

The Editor

Re. "PoMo turns down housing" (The Tri-City News, Jan. 28).

As one of the residents of Heritage Woods who spoke at the public hearing on Jan. 25, I was less than amused with the diatribe delivered by councillors Karen Rockwell and Bob Elliot. I would be more accepting of their criticism if they had educated views on the many concerns that residents have and spoke about at the public hearing.

What councillors Rockwell and Elliot failed to appreciate is that our concerns are about responsible planning and development. ParkLane has been developing land and housing on Heritage Mountain over the course of 20 years, leading to significant destruction of forested land and with many other environmental impacts, all of which the city of Port Moody and its councillors approved.

This includes the land upon which my house sits and it is easy for the councillors say that we contributed to the issues by buying houses here but, again, the city had already approved the development, ParkLane had already cleared the land, the roads were already paved and the houses were being built regardless of who was going to buy them.

The residents, having moved into the area, have witnessed first-hand what has become of the neighbourhood and the surrounding area, and joined to voice our concerns to ensure any further development be responsible and sustainable. The proposal delivered by ParkLane was, in our opinion, far from that.

Exception was also taken to Coun. Rockwell's comments regarding speeding. I invite her to reside on Sycamore Drive for a short period of time to witness the many non-resident vehicles that come up the mountain for one of many reasons, including: B&Es, pot parties, hockey games at the new park and on occasion for setting up bonfires in the forest.

I would encourage the councillors in future to act in a more professional and educated manner.

Gayle Dalli, Port Moody