Deja Vu All Over Again

Yogi Berra's famous quote applies to circumstances here as Joel and Rita may be wondering if they have to go through this every decade.

Joel and Rita Allen of Lavington Roses, members of the Coldstream Acreage Owners' Association, made a presentation to the District of Coldstream on Monday.

Here's their excellent presentation to Council (letter was written end of March, asking to be a delegation and allowed to speak at an upcoming meeting).

"Dear Mayor Garlick and Coldstream Council,

We are writing in regards to the proposed zoning changes within the Coldstream Municipality.  As we understand from speaking to the councilors at the information evening, Coldstream council does not want tocreate any more 5 acre parcels. It was explained to us that this will somehow help preserve agriculture in our community. We feel that the ALC has been very diligent in not allowing good farm land to be subdivided. Apparently, many councilors feel that by changing zoning within Coldstream they will save time and money for both staff, council, and landowners.  Every land owner has the right to go through the democratic process of applying for their land to be subdivided, whether it is approved or not. In cases such as our own the ALC recognized that the land was not suitable for agriculture and it was approved for removal from the ALR.

A better approach for preserving farmland might be to allow future development of the Coldstream hillsides, such as Whisper Ridge, that are not suitable for agriculture. This would allow the people with no intention of farming the opportunity to still live on acreage in Coldstream. Thus preserving good agricultural land for actual farming. In every community it is necessary to plan for future growth allowing more revenues to help with ever increasing costs for infrastructure etc.

Prior to the introduction of the ALR valuable farmland had been used for residential subdivisions, such as areas around Lavington, Kal School, Kidston School, the municipal offices, etc. More recently the development of Coldstream Estates and Middleton Mountain have taken place. Some would argue that hillsides should not be developed, although extensive studies have concluded that the overall benefits far outweigh the negatives.  After the impending necessary infrastructure upgrades, Buchanan Road would provide pockets of land that would be very suitable for future development.  This may also go a long way to completing the Grey Canal trail out to Lavington.

On a personal note we would like to address the rezoning of our property to RU30. In 2002 we were invited to attend discussions for the development of the OCP for Coldstream. We were told at that time our property was being considered for rezoning to RU30. Together with some of our neighbors we hired consultants to help us put together a presentation for Mayor Postill and council. After 3 council meetings it was voted on and decided to leave the zoning RU2. We were told at that time the official community plan would show our properties left as RU2 (emphasis blog author). We ask that you respect our time, effort and money and the councils time and effort in making this decision and leave that zoning in place.

Regards,

Joel and Rita Allen"

Thanks for an excellent presentation, Joel and Rita!

"Results will show whether our ailing democracy is actually dead in Coldstream," chides Kia.