Editor:
No, I don't like the highrise condos being built along the river.
However:
Before people start complaining about them, they need to consider a few things, like public buildings and sidewalks and street maintenance and parks and public schools and ... well, you get the idea.
Just as the cost of living increases, so does the cost of running a city. Everyone wants well-maintained roads (with or without bike lanes), and the city has to pay for them, along with everything else. But no one wants higher taxes.
New Westminster is a small city in area with few undeveloped areas to expand into. The city's principal source of income is property tax. So, if we want to live in a city that is reasonably well-managed, we have to choose between (much) higher taxes or greater density. With Queensborough the only place with land to expand into, that means we must build upwards.
Developers want to get as much bang for their bucks as possible, and that means river views, and the closer to the water, the better. The selling price difference is definitely noteworthy.
So, what will it be? A reasonably well-managed city with acceptable taxes but increased density, a reasonably well-managed city with existing density and exorbitant taxes, or a decaying city with existing density and acceptable taxes?
As for those highrises on the river — the area of the Fraser around New Westminster is tidal. With climate change expected to raise the sea level (by whatever amount you like), those condos and their underground parking are going to be facing some significant changes, both to the amount of sea water they're exposed to and subsidence that will result from it. This worries me.
I remember the last time the Fraser had a record high flood level. Events like that are expected to become both more frequent and more severe. I'd like to assume that the developers and city planners took these matters into consideration, but property developers are notorious for overlooking such things, and city planners have a difficult time convincing them to exceed the always out-of-date regulations.
But almost everywhere else is already taken — that's why those commercial areas in uptown are being redeveloped. New Westminster is hungry for development land, and there isn't much left, and those river views sure are pretty.
Debra Simms
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