Editor, The News:
Josine Eikelenboom is concerned about an application to Maple Ridge council for extraction of gravel from a neighbouring property.
She makes some valid points. Coho Creek, as well as many other streams in Maple Ridge, can no longer give way to industrial, commercial and residential development.
I met Mrs. Eikelenboom some years ago and I had the opportunity to visit her property. She and her late husband decided to build their home on what was then referred to as rural property.
The fact that she has provided the Land Conservancy of B.C. a major portion of her property to keep and protect long into the future, goes to her sense of responsibility as a land owner and her generosity as a citizen of Maple Ridge.
To give up any hope of development around the watercourse is essentially relinquishing her chances of making money from that land, in perpetuity.
The district already has, according to the Official Community Plan, a more- than adequate supply of gravel in the designated area of north 256th Street. Some long-term planning, and a new, designated truck route would take the gravel trucks off Dewdney Trunk Road.
There is no need to extract gravel from rural property that will require re-zoning and a possible application to the Agricultural Land Commission.
I am the first person to tell those who purchase property on or adjacent to highways, truck routes or other busy thoroughfares, “You knew full well when you bought your place that it was on a busy street. Don’t start to complain once you move in and can’t stand the traffic.”
However, Josine and her husband did not purchase their land on a busy truck route. She is to be commended for her sense of community and I would hope council will realize there are other areas better suited for gravel extraction in Maple Ridge.
Mike Boileau
Maple Ridge