Letter from Deborah A. Todd (Jan 26, 2012)

Re: 2820 Barker Road, Victoria, BC

The proposed radio communication tower will be visible from my residence which is located on the shore of Pike Lake. Pike Lake is a unique environment as the property consists of approximately 400 acres of forest which surrounds the lake. The property has been preserved in its natural state and is a natural continuation of Thetis Lake and Francis King Parks. Constructing a communication tower which will be visible from the Lake will destroy this natural environment.

The section of land where the tower is to be erected once formed part of the Pike Lake property. It was expropriated by BC Hydro in approximately 1972 and at that time BC Hydro agreed to register a restrictive covenant against the title in order to protect the sight lines from any development on the expropriated property. Unfortunately the covenant does not extend to the part of the property where the tower will be placed. It is interesting that even with the extensive power lines which have subsequently been erected on this land none of them are visible from Pike Lake. If the communication tower is deemed necessary, I believe it would be possible to work with TELUS to find an alternate location whereby the tower would be hidden by the forest.

I understand that there is a tree cutting by-law in View Royal and that TELUS would require permission from the View Royal council to cut down several trees in order to construct the tower. Hopefully the council will see fit to not allow this to happen.

Your urgent attention to this matter would be appreciated. I can be contacted to discuss this further at 250-381-6444 (work) or 250-479-2816 (home).

Yours truly,

DEBORAH A. TODD DAT:tec Encl.