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LETTER: City needs more rental spaces, not retail

I’m glad to see the write-up in the paper as I didn’t hear about the open house about the new development.
7909875_web1_170426-PQN-M-PQN-Letters

I’m glad to see the write-up in the paper as I didn’t hear about the open house about the new development.

As a resident, I’ll be thrilled to see something happen with this site after all these years of proposals and refusals.

What I love is the residential building for rentals. The other positive is the link to the downtown and public access.

The need for more commercial retail space is ludicrous. I can list the number of commercial buildings sitting empty right now — look at Wembly Mall, then at the two buildings in that parking lot. Beach Club Resort properties bordering the Island Highway have sat empty since it was built. Finally, a real estate office moved in. So exciting!

Commercial space was put in on Weld Street in two buildings, and now is put in on Stanford Avenue in the building under construction, above it will be residential. How much commercial do we need in a small city?

I wish the city would give incentive to developers/land buyers to build more rental units since that is what is needed. They simply won’t build anything that won’t give their investors money.

We survived the building of the Beach Club which some folks called a monstrosity and I’m sure we will also survive this plan! Good luck city council!

Rhoda Perron

Parksville