Dear Editor,
[Re: “Homeowners losing yards, parking, quality of life,” July 10, The News]
Thank you to The News for coming to 124 Avenue and reporting on what residents are facing.
The story helped readers who may never have visited our quiet dead-end street understand just how close the proposed road expansion will come to our homes.
The most impacted residents, including myself, are not asking whether change should happen. We’ve been asking how the change should be planned, designed, and communicated with those whose homes and daily lives will be most affected.
Imagine a quiet residential street becoming a major truck route — the vibration, exhaust, dust, noise, drainage concerns, slope stability, and the loss of a safe buffer between traffic and our home.
We have asked for open, transparent, fair public meetings with the city before the design is finalized.
Instead, we are being told there will be an open house only later this year – after the plans have largely taken shape. It is not the same as consultation while those plans are still being developed.
If a major truck route were about to be built outside your originally quiet home you chose to live in, would you expect to be consulted before the design was completed — or simply be told afterward to adjust your expectations?
Perhaps it is not residents’ expectations that need adjusting. Perhaps the consultation process does.
Yi Shen, Maple Ridge
RELATED LETTER: Neighbours seek ‘meaningful consultation’ on 124 Avenue expansion