The following letter was sent to District of Sechelt council and copied to Coast Reporter:

Mr. Stockwell has applied for a rezoning of his property from residential to industrial. I have three concerns.

One is the impact heavy industrialization has on a residential neighborhood including air, noise, and visual pollution, lots of truck traffic brought to the Sechelt Inlet Road, and devaluation of residents' properties. East Porpoise Bay could go from a charming waterfront neighborhood to being in the midst of industrialization. Picture industrial zones in cities where you've previously lived. The District currently has existing areas zoned industrial. I would hope this and future councils will direct needed, new businesses to the existing areas already zoned industrial.

Another concern is that Porpoise Bay Provincial Park, heavily used and one of the acknowledged jewels of the District will be affected by Stockwell's industrial development. Campers and their families do not escape the city and its noises with the dream of camping next to a batch cement plant.

Not only is the integrity of the park affected, but also the experience of its visitors.

My third concern is about jobs. While there's a claim that only about seven jobs will be created, we might lose tourist dollars if part of the park experience is also a cement plant experience. Tourism has huge potential to grow in the District. Local businesses (restaurants, B&Bs, liquor stores, grocery and clothing stores) cater to those tourist dollars. Seven cement jobs to compensate for tourist jobs and dollars lost is a poor swap. 

Please take the long-term view and strongly support tourism, which provides increasingly more jobs, along with preservation of our spectacular, natural environment. Therefore, please do not rezone Mr. Stockwell's property and the residential community of East Porpoise Bay to industrial thus favoring a few and negatively affecting many.

Elizabeth McNeill

Sechelt