Environmental bylaws are necessary to protect the lovely park-like quality of Qualicum Beach from the careless, thoughtless and unconsidered clear cutting of developers.
I have lived on Crescent Road for two years and up to now the view from my kitchen window has been a magnificent green panorama of enormous pines and Douglas firs until about a month ago when developers clear-cut in preparation for building a house.
So far, the clear cutting appears to have been completely unnecessary. All trees were stripped right down to the back lane where there has been no building. Was It necessary to strip down to the back lane?
As I write, the lot at the corner of Berwick and Crescent looks as if it is also being clear-cut. Many citizens have moved to Qualicum Beach for the green which is now being cut down. Developers don’t seem to have an eye for compromise and preserving the site they are working on. Cut down what you need to and leave the beautiful foliage decades old.
We have a bylaw to stop work when there is high risk of serious injury, illness or death or where tearing down a house has been stopped to protect the environment from various pollutions. Why don’t we do the same for tree cutting? Why can’t a fringe of trees be allowed for the privacy of the new house and the privacy of the long standing property owners so that they can have the environment they bought their houses for?
Cecil BosherQualicum Beach