Dear Editor,

I am among many residents who are against the proposed development at 68th Avenue and 201st Street. I am also among many, very tired residents, who helped stop a very similar plan two years ago.

I am not sure why we have to do this again, as we made ourselves quite clear last time. But here we are again, and we are going to keep fighting for our community, if that is what we have to do.

The plan is for 475 condos, 30 townhouses, and two single-family units in our area.

It doesn't sound like much has changed from the last plan (about 17 per cent). We are still talking about more than 500 residences.

It does not fit into our community, first of all.

Secondly the traffic on the 200th Street corridor is pretty crazy as it is. Try driving from 72nd Avenue to Willowbrook Shopping Centre on any given evening or on a weekend; it is pretty unreal.

The congestion causes drivers to take the back streets when possible, creating more, including the already very busy area in front of R.C. Garnett Elementary School.

These residential streets are designed for local traffic, and are not there to take the pressure off the main routes, but when congestion happens, that is exactly what they end up being used for.

I am also concerned about property value. We bought a new townhouse and moved to Langley in 2005. Our plans were to eventually buy a house in the neighbourhood, but the house values increased at a much faster rate than the townhomes did. I am concerned that the value of our home will depreciate even more.

Also the crime rate will increase with higher density housing. Our mail had been stolen so many times that our Strata had to put a cage around our mailbox, not to mention the vandalism, burglaries, and now arson that is happening in our community.

The Original Community plan needs to stay intact. I am very disappointed that we have to go through this again. We should be using our energy to help get the funding for Langley School District's capital plan - another battle we have to undertake because of lack of planning and communication between council and school board.

Julia Ng, Willoughby