Agassiz Observer, June 26, 2014

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Thursday, June 26, 2014

The Agassiz Y Harrison

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GRAD DAY Students celebrate a most important milestone

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JESSICA PETERS / OBSERVER

Traffic problems, including the aging, narrow, pedestrian-unfriendly Agassiz-Rosedale bridge, was just one of the issues residents brought forward to District of Kent staff and council at a public meeting held Tuesday night, prior to the upcoming adoption of the new Official Community Plan.

Planning for the future

Mae Moore brings music and paintings to Harrison Festival

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Jessica Peters THE OBSERVER

Some residents aren't happy to learn that they may have more neighbours than they bargained for. The District of Kent has been working on a revised Official Community Plan since last April, and has engaged with the public through several public forums. However, at Tuesday night's public hearing regarding the upcoming OCP changes, some of the people in attendance said they didn't realize changes were in store for their own neighbourhoods. Residents along Fooks Road said they didn't realize the OCP would affect their area. "I have received nothing in the

mail to suggest there were changes to be made," Bob Garden said. He said when he and his neighbours bought their homes, they were told nothing else would be built there for "10 to 15 years." He asked council to consider a moratorium on building in that area for the remainder of that timeframe, and asked for a buffer zone to be placed along the west side of Aberdeen Road to ensure continued privacy in the future. The OCP states the following for the Fooks Road/Key Road Properties: "Recognizing the continued demand for single family land by designating this site in northwest Agassiz that is adjacent to existing residential area as Residential -Reserve for Single

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Bacon N’ Eggers

Family with some opportunity for commercial use along the Highway 7 frontage properties subject to a comprehensive neighbourhood plan." Residents from the Woodridge strata on Morrow Road also said they had concerns. One woman noted that if the area surrounding the strata is zoned multi family residential, the current low-lying bungalows will lose their views, their enjoyment of their yards, and eventual loss in property value. The public hearing was not a time for discussion between the public and the district staff, so no answers were given to those with concerns. An overview of the

entire OCP process was given by Tina Atva from Urban Systems, who has been working with the district over the last year to gauge the public's needs and desires for growth. The OCP is intended to be a guiding document for development until the year 2040, and measures everything from residential growth to farm use, recreational needs and transportation. One of those needs will be 500600 new homes by 2040, as the population is expected to grow by 1,200 by then. John Allen, who has property along the district's Rockwell Drive, has written three letters offering

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POOF! Y morningour a person

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Residents get last chance to speak up on community plan

VISUAL WONDERS

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