Dear Editor:
Thank you for printing the letter Slap Developers with a Cost Charge to Help Pay for Transit (mailbox, Jan. 28), and thanks to letter-writer Don Bryant for his idea. I agree. Politicians may need a backup plan if the transit referendum fails.
There is an ongoing dilemma of how to balance growth with transportation, so we believe development cost charges are a fair and equitable way to collect fees to pay for downstream improvements which are a direct result of development. This is also easier for the majority of people to swallow, since they equate growth with increasing demand for transit.
There is a growing discontent with development — growth — as Bryant pointed out. Developers are just doing their job — developing housing, etc. — but the growth needs to be accompanied with transit improvements, otherwise commuters become frustrated, and it will become an election issue, as witnessed in North Vancouver in November.
Bryant has proposed a solution which will up the costs for developers, but the alternative is even less attractive to them, namely stopping growth. All it takes is pressure from the mayors, through Metro, to get the province to revise the Local Government Act enabling municipalities to collect DCCs for transit.
Are you listening, mayors and local MLAs? Maybe this is the “Plan B” the mayor is looking for.
Alex Jamieson
North Vancouver
