Development on the North Shore must stop — at least temporarily.
That was the thesis of Coun. Lisa Muri's impassioned speech at District of North Vancouver council Monday.
Muri made many cogent points. When it comes to development, it's often true West Vancouver and the two North Vancouvers seem like triplets who each think they're an only child.
While Muri has been a guardian against density in the past, she voiced her opinion during a debate about highrises in Lower Capilano - a neighbourhood specifically reserved for density in the district's unanimously approved official community plan.
Just six months earlier, there was a similar scene in West Vancouver chambers, with Coun. Bill Soprovich training his zeal on a three-storey mixeduse
building on Clyde Avenue. Soprovich's vow came scant weeks after he backed Grosvenor's seven-storey Ambleside project - a development he'd unsuccessfully tried to shorten by 15 feet. Regardless, Soprovich's harangue was drowned out in applause.
In this election year, we ask voters to consider the community they want to build - as well as the particular development they don't want built - and a plausible vision for the future.
As politicians begin knocking on doors in the coming months, some may find religion late and decide opposing development is a good way to get elected. Others may advocate positions at odds with their own voting record.
But actions always speak louder than words in political chambers.
It will pay to remember that come November.
