Secondary suites are important

Dear Editor:

I was very surprised to hear, from the Columbia Valley Pioneer Regional District of East Kootenay Briefs in last Friday’s paper, that Wendy Booth had deduced there was no appetite for secondary suites in Area F.

Where and how did she conduct her survey to come to such a conclusion? I couldn’t make it to the town hall meeting where this was on the agenda (I was working), but I neither read nor heard anything that came from it, which suggested secondary suites were unwanted in Area F.

As a someone who has spent many years in the area living in (illegal) secondary suites, and is now considering purchasing a home in the area (with a potentially legal secondary suite to help my mortgage), this is an issue that is of significant importance to me.

I noticed the brief in the newspaper stated that “some portions” of Area F would be excluded from the new zoning bylaw. Perhaps she could elaborate on which areas that would be?

Bram Rossman, Windermere

* Editor’s note: the matter of the drafted bylaw regulating secondary suites has been returned to staff at the regional district in order to clarify which portions of Area F are to be excluded from the bylaw; particularly areas that are on or near the boundary of Areas F and G. Once drafted, the bylaw will be put forward for public consultation.