Letters to the editor...Development in Glen will affect hamlet

Dear editor, Re: Oct. 20 letter `Region must stand up to Province'. Mr. Beyette has eloquently put into words, issues that are of great concern. It was ironic that his letter was published in the same issue that ran an article on the new Sheridan development in Glen Williams, painting a much rosier picture than I would. Maybe I just don't understand government financing. The developer adds hundreds of homes to the town, yet there is no equivalent growth in the size of the town hospital; schools can only cope by adding more and more portables; and the roads become increasingly congested. The developer walks away and leaves residents with the problems that he has created, and our taxes continue to increase! As Mr. Beyette points out, we are also increasing the very pollution that we all talk about needing to reduce. In their insatiable appetite for profit, uglier and uglier subdivisions are being built where houses are crammed into ever smaller spaces. In my own village of Glen Williams, I spent six years, along with numerous others, including town staff and elected officials, helping to develop a `Secondary Plan' for our hamlet. Whilst Sheridan claim they will design their subdivision to fit in with the rest of the existing village, the sheer size of the development (91 homes in a village of 450 homes) cannot do anything but have a negative impact on the hamlet. A hugely disappointing result after six years work, to say the least. With local elections just past, I hope all voters asked their candidates their positions on these issues and what actions they were prepared to take to stop this madness. W. Shuttleworth, Glen Williams