Correspondence from Ann ten Cate Re: Variance Permit - 275 Plowright Road
Email from a neighbor expressing general concerns about the precedent set by allowing variances close to lot lines.
From: Ann ten Cate [mailto:atencate@shaw.ca] Sent: July-02-18 12:20 PM To: Info Address Subject: Variance, Lot 1, Section 27, Esquimalt District, Plan 31815 Permit 2018/02, 275 Plowright Road
Dear Mayor and Council:
I would like to comment on the application for a variance on this property. I have no objection to the variance as it affects my own property directly (as it doesn’t), but I would like to express my general concern that variances are too often allowed in View Royal. Increasingly I find myself questioning why View Royal has zoning bylaws, if, as it seems, they can so easily be over-ridden. It seems that it is left up to individual adjacent property owners to protest or complain – which seems to me sets up an imbalance. Who is speaking for general community standards? Neighbours can be afraid to speak up because they don’t want to be “un-neighbourly”. I would ask the Council to think seriously about whether allowing building right up to a lot line is a good idea. I can see this allowing all kinds of future development in View Royal that will be permitted to exist right on a lot line, on this lot, or on others because the variance can be used as precedent. So, I think I am asking Council to consider whether we want neighbourhoods in View Royal with large structures and fences that will impinge on neighbours, changing sight lines, light levels, noise levels etc. if they are not currently permitted under the by-laws. My own personal feeling is that we do not.
Sincerely,
Ann ten Cate, 274 Plowright Road.