Skip to content

Leave the Bell McKinnon area plan alone

Now here we are 2021, and council is saying that they can change or even scrap the BMLAP
24708851_web1_Letters-logo-2-660x440

Leave the Bell McKinnon area plan alone

Re: Dave Jackson — Bell McKinnon Local Area Plan

We totally agree with Dave Jackson that we have been tricked by North Cowichan council. Since 2016 the residents of Bell McKinnon and Herd Road have been actively involved in our Local Area Plan. My Husband and I have lived at 2928 Herd Rd. for 27 years. We have raised our children here and we were in the process of getting our house ready for our retirement years, when we heard that the new hospital was going to be built in our neighbourhood. Our road has become very busy over the years, and even busier, when the Crofton road floods, sending all the truck traffic past our house, so we were very upset to hear how much busier it will get with the new hospital.

We were told about the Bell McKinnon LAP and that if we got involved we would have our say in the direction our neighbourhood would go. So we did. I even got up at a council meeting, to express I how felt, way beyond my comfort zone. There is no doubt that we need a new hospital but if everyone says not in my backyard then where would it go? Over a two year period of hard work, time and money, the neighbourhood came together, along with the planning and building committee, a plan for the next 50 years was put together. It’s a plan that you can live, work and play, with plenty of green space. It has won two awards. And it was adopted by council.

So we came to terms, about having the hospital in our backyard. Knowing we were going to be living in a beautiful neighbourhood. I know I am very naive when it comes to politics, but here I am thinking it is a done deal. Now here we are 2021, and council is saying that they can change or even scrap the BMLAP, and start all over, without any input from the public. Some of the council members think that you can put a hospital in the middle of a neighbourhood and not expect to have any growth around it. That we should stop and go back. Why? That shows no respect for all the work and time that went into this plan. The hospital is a done deal. The property across the road is zoned commercial, gone are the trees and wildlife that used to be my view, replaced by the traffic and noise of the highway. So how can we stop something that is already started?

Our lives have been put on hold since 2016, waiting to see what is going to happen to our neighbourhood. Please North Cowichan council, do your job and continue with the plan that you have already adopted. Don’t go wasting time and money on redoing a plan that is already in place.

David and Teresa Dodd

North Cowichan