SUBMITTED BY SHAUN MCDONALD.
OPINION
Hi Benny,
In response to your letter to the Editor in the November 29 edition of this paper, I have to agree that you probably have done everything completely legally in the work so far performed within the Rand Estate. If this is due to previous inaction by government bodies and other authorities then the blame must lie with them and not you.
However, I feel that you have not done everything completely morally in this case and I believe that this is why there has been such a community backlash against you.
My wife and I moved down here from Toronto 3 years ago. We stayed for a long weekend, fell in love with the town and decided to make the move. I still commute daily to Toronto so this was not a completely rational decision, more of an emotional one, and I believe one that many people in this town have made; I don’t think we are unique in this.
The main reason we moved was precisely because this was NOT like Toronto and we wanted to get away from the city and enjoy a different lifestyle. Your argument with building the hotel and subdivision on the Rand Estate is that you intend to “improve the future of NOTL”. The issue I see is that your previous subdivisions like The Cannery are the cookie cutter type developments that we all moved here to get away from! They are not an improvement at all, rather a regression to the mean.
If I could suggest anything to you Benny, I think it would be a great idea for you to take the community’s feelings in this regard into account and revise how you intend to develop this land so it is more in keeping with the unique and historical character we have here in NOTL. I’m sure this would reduce the resistance you are currently getting from the community. I suggest taking a drive and looking at subdivisions and homes built by, in my mind, two of the finest builders in this area, Gatta Homes and Brooklite Homes. I am certain that neither of these companies receive the same kind of backlash and resistance that you do when they propose their developments. This is entirely due to the fact that they take the character of our wonderful area into account with everything they do and really care about the community that keeps them in business.
