Editor:
We want to thank the people and businesses of Sechelt for the best summer ever and explain why our patronage cannot continue. In 2015 we purchased our “commuter backyard” and future retirement property in Sandy Hook. Living/working from our condo in Vancouver, we saved and banked vacation to spend our summers in Sechelt. We woke with the birds, gardened, kayaked, biked and hiked while tenting on our lot (practising no trace). We learned when the neighbourhood awoke when the first lawn mower started and knew if the next day was garbage day because the raccoons tumbled them in the night. Our son won the doughnut eating competition at Sandy Hook’s BBQ. Our daughter kayaked with the jellies in Porpoise Bay. We bought books at Talewinds and toys at Pastime Toys, rode at Coast Gravity Park with a rental from Off the Edge and enjoyed so many businesses I can’t list them all. Special thanks to Eagle Ridge Vet for our dog Cody’s emergency dental surgery.
After our second summer tenting, the road was widened and we lost the underbrush and privacy. Three complaints prompted the District of Sechelt to inform us that we could no longer tent on our lot without being fined. Even to garden or remove invasive species requires a $300 DPA permit. We’ve been told to apply for a $900 building permit plus $300 DPA plus design fees to get a one-year temporary permit for a trailer. This is a huge burden on us as we cannot afford the permits, taxes and a second mortgage to actually build a house on our own. It’s frustrating that most of Sechelt can be so welcoming but a few people and an extensive set of local regulations can kill a dream for our own backyard.
Trevor, Jane, Keegan and Emma Bateman, Sechelt
