Cooper Farm, Letter to Mayor and Council
This is the letter I submitted to Mayor and Council on Monday, July 25, 2022, regarding the development proposal for Cooper farm:
Good afternoon Mayor Braun and Councillors;
The Cooper farm development proposal does not meet the desired outcomes of Abbotsford Forward and lacks density.
Contributions from the developer are inadequate. I do not consider the developer's contributions to include the park areas. The parks are Ms. Cooper's contribution, not the developer's. For example, when Ms. Cooper sold the property, there were conditions for park areas; therefore, she would have taken the financial loss on that contribution, not the developer. The developer has not proposed any meaningful amenity contributions.
Rather than outline the problems with this development proposal for Council, I have created an evaluation grid [below and attached]. You may use this grid to self-evaluate the project yourself. Inspired by the best urban and transportation planning practices and my personal experience, I hope you find it helpful, thought-provoking and fun.
The use of this grid is subjective based on the size of a project. The Cooper Farm proposal is of size to consider all of these elements.
The Cooper farm development proposal does not meet the desired outcomes of Abbotsford Forward and lacks density.
Contributions from the developer are inadequate. I do not consider the developer's contributions to include the park areas. The parks are Ms. Cooper's contribution, not the developer's. For example, when Ms. Cooper sold the property, there were conditions for park areas; therefore, she would have taken the financial loss on that contribution, not the developer. The developer has not proposed any meaningful amenity contributions.
Rather than outline the problems with this development proposal for Council, I have created an evaluation grid [below and attached]. You may use this grid to self-evaluate the project yourself. Inspired by the best urban and transportation planning practices and my personal experience, I hope you find it helpful, thought-provoking and fun.
The use of this grid is subjective based on the size of a project. The Cooper Farm proposal is of size to consider all of these elements.
Ross F. Brown
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| Screenshot from the staff report concerning the Cooper farm development proposal, page 25. |