Re: “Saanich needs to build its new ­operations centre,” letter, June 7.

Saanich Coun. Judy Brownoff supports the Saanich alternative approval process partly on the grounds that it will bring “parklands, trail networks, improving the environment” as mooted in the 1998 scheme. But if the plan following the AAP is approved, that’s not what will happen to the site. Council’s plan is to lease the site to a private developer who will build several 18-floor apartment towers and a shopping mall.

It is just about as far away as possible from the concepts of the 1998 scheme. There are no details of the lease arrangement, which is presumably part of the loan repayment plan, giving us no chance to assess the plan’s viability in these uncertain economic times. No chance to assess what impact a lease default would have on the future Saanich budget.

We need a new operations centre, but we don’t need this plan. Given the densification of the district that is in progress, we will desperately need more open space and more soft infrastructure.

The works yard site is the only place where this could be done. Under the present housing development legislation, we don’t get any other chance to have a say in how the site is used. Our only option is to vote “No” to the AAP and hope that the next council will have a policy oriented to the interests of the residents and not to those of the developers.

Alec Mitchell

Saanich

Re: “Saanich needs to build its new ­operations centre,” letter, June 7.

Saanich Coun. Judy Brownoff did a fine job in outlining the need for a new Saanich operations centre. However, the councillor failed to mention that council will need to borrow $150 million to allow this project to go through.

In their wisdom, the mayor and council want to avoid holding a referendum due to the cost involved. Instead, the money can be borrowed if less than 10 per cent of Saanich taxpayers send in a formal objection. What the mayor and council are counting on is that very few Saanich residents are aware of the need to borrow this large sum of money.

This underhanded tactic is supported by the mayor and council using every means available to make sure what they intend to do. A short message by the mayor on TV, and limited mention in the newspaper don’t cut it, which is what they are counting on. A practical way to make sure all Saanich taxpayers were made aware of the loan would have been to include an information letter with our tax notice.

OK, mayor and council, do the right and honourable thing by holding a referendum to ensure the people who will be paying the $150 million have their say.

Ken Rogers

Saanich

Again Saanich residents see 2025 property taxes increases in outrageous, unacceptable and unsustainable amounts, not the 8% that Saanich advertises, but sometimes well over 10%.

Before this council is hopefully dispatched to the sidelines, many residents will see their property taxes double during the term of this overbuilding, overspending, overborrowing and overstaffing council.

It is quite unbelievable, in the shadow of these tortuous property tax increases, to see Saanich council going forward with borrowing proposals in the order of hundreds of millions of dollars. They are looking for $150 million.

And to bypass borrowing referendums, council will use the odious, nondemocratic alternative........

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