Dear Editor: Over the past few years, Edgemont (including the Village) has undergone a massive amount of development. As a longtime resident, I am finding this new wave of construction/destruction very disturbing.
People say how much they like this area, but then systematically destroy it. A case in point is the recent demolition of an early 1950s Fred Hollingsworth post-and-beam rancher on Newmarket Drive. The property sold in the spring of 2013 and the house, which I think was of historical preservation merit as it was featured in the Heritage Building Inventory, was duly flattened in July. Now a "lot for sale" has gone up and we can expect to see a "McMansion" go up in its place.
I foolishly thought the district was going to some length to preserve these mid-century modern homes, especially in this area, but it doesn't look like it. Although having said that, last year a similar house on Edgemont Boulevard was bought and lovingly restored.
If we continue to pull down these historic houses we will be left with the awful mishmash of massive mansions with six bathrooms and no character whatsoever. The design of these "mansions" is the height of hypocrisy. The current movement to promote sustainability in building is totally ignored in the size of these new houses. Who needs six or more bathrooms? How much drinking water goes down the toilets? How much heat is needed to warm a 6,000-square-foot house? Etc.
Finally, a note to would-be developers in this area: The massive homes you are building, and asking $3 million for are not selling fast. Young families who can grow and restore these lovely mid-century homes if they were priced right, or retirees who need smaller, not larger, homes and who can live comfortably in a one-level rancher, are not being considered at all.
Joni Mitchell had it right years ago in her song "Big Yellow Taxi" when she sang "You don't know what you've got till it's gone."
Anne Savill
North Vancouver
