A nearly clearcut development just off Highway 101 in Sechelt is a glaring example of developers saying one thing and then doing another, according to West Sechelt resident Paul Rhodes.
Rhodes attended most of the public meetings to do with the Sangara development (off Highway 101 between Shorncliffe Road and Norwest Bay Road) and said he was encouraged by the developer's plans to keep clusters of trees intact on the hillside and a buffer of trees at the highway.
He watched with interest when the work to clear the subdivision got underway earlier this year.
They were cutting down trees selectively and it was looking good and then right towards the end of the ground clearing they just cut everything else, which was more or less everything that was standing, Rhodes said.
He was upset to see the trees toppled and said he now questions whether or not he should be involved in public meetings for future development proposals in Sechelt.
I used to go to a lot of public meetings, council meetings, but there's a futility to it, Rhodes said. I can now understand why people said to me 'why bother? You can't influence events.' I feel the public should be involved, but I can't justify going to these meetings anymore because people make commitments like Sangara and you come away feeling pretty happy and it's good and then they choose a different route.
Director of development services for Sechelt, Ray Parfitt, said the District is aware of the tree cutting issues at the Sangara site.
We've had it out with them on this thing, too. I hear where Rhodes is coming from, Parfitt said.
Parfitt said the developers took out too many trees when roughing out the roads in the development and a subsequent arbourist's report said they would have to replant a row of trees to act as a buffer between their development and the Clayton's development next door.
So they were going to restock the trees within this 15-metre buffer between the Clayton subdivision and their own, but then they went ahead and took out all those trees to the south almost going down to the highway, Parfitt said. They said that was all part of their tree cutting licence, but I said it wasn't, that it just talked about that area north to Cowrie. I said, 'you never did submit an arbourist report for that lower part,' so that's where we kind of left it. I've just been too busy with other stuff, but they're certainly on notice that we're not too happy about what's going on with them cutting that lower part of the property.
Parfitt said the District could impose a fine on the developer if he doesn't restock the requested trees.
Developer David Sangara did not return repeated phone calls from Coast Reporter for comment.
