NIMBYism in Full Force

Here is my column from our April 6 issue regarding a mob of NIMBYs who descended on city hall.

I would advise all suburbanites who hang on to their love of lawns and strip malls to read James Howard Kunstler's The Geography of Nowhere, and visit his website too: www.kunstler.com

Simply A Musing
By Paul J. Henderson
phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com

The NIMBYs descended upon city hall on Monday to protest a development of unspeakable evil.

No, it wasn't a rendering plant or a dog food factory or even a coal-fired electricity generation plant. Not a pulp mill, nor an abattoir, nor a casino.

This, fellow residents of Chilliwack, was much more insidious and it inspired passionate community opposition to make sure Mayor Clint Hames and council were clear that this development should not happen. Well, at least, Not In My Back Yard.
(I should say "not in their back yard," but NIMBY sounds better than NITBY.)

This development was none other than that nasty monster known as—wait for it—townhouses!

Long the bane of civilized peoples everywhere, we all know the horrible consequences of townhouses. For this Sardis community of single family dwelling owners that malignity comes from the whiff of possibility that they may have to live adjacent to renters (ugh!) and the other ne'er-do-wells and detritus that come with those who can't afford their own detached home.

Yes, council had it laid on the line for them, in the words of one resident: "The surrounding residents reject this type of devleopment."

At Monday's meeting, council listened to resident after resident complain about the idea that the property in question would be transformed into five, or possibly eight, townhouses. One resident even literally said that, and I paraphrase, people in this townhouse complex will be able to peer in his back yard. The NIMBY all but said, "not in my back yard!"

But sarcasm aside, something about the anachronistic antagonism of those opposed to the reality of more people living near them made Mayor Clint Hames snap. And he did so in a way that was so refreshing I don't hesitate here to sing his praises.

During the discussion over the proposed eight-plex on this piece of property where there currently is a single family home, one area resident said he and his wife used to live in another area of Chilliwack and suddenly a development "popped up over night," leading to an utterly distasteful "rental population," with the invariable grow-ops that come with renting.

Another woman pointed out that when she purchased the area was single family and she expected it to stay that way.
Hames seemed to get frustrated at this point and he asked the woman, "what’s the bad thing about townhouses?"

The NIMBY replied: "Well when we purchased it was single family."
Hames: "But what makes it worse?"
NIMBY: "It doesn’t make it worse, it makes it different, and we chose to live in a single family development."
Hames: "So what’s wrong with townhouses?"
NIMBY: "There’s nothing wrong with townhouses."
Hames: "Just as long as they’re not near you?"

The exchange was based on the premise that Hames now lives in Garrison Crossing where he lives quite amicably in his neighbourhood with people who live in townhouses, and where there will soon be condominium apartments.

Once all the councillors went through their reasons for rejecting the development, Hames too agreed to reject it, but only because this particular development seemed too much for this particular lot. Parking and a lack of sidewalks were reasons, for example.

But it was the underlying attitude that got under Hames' skin—and for what it's worth, mine too.

The reality is that the Lower Mainland is changing, suburbia does not work for all kinds of reasons not least of which is dwindling world oil resource and environmental degradation. People need to get used to living closer to each other, and not being so quick to judge and abhor those of us who rent or live in apartments or condos or duplexes or townhouses.

As Hames put it to the crowd is his somewhat didactic—and delicious—diatribe, these types of developments are OK with those in this neighbourhood, as long as it's somewhere else.

"I'll tell you what," he said. "Somewhere else is full."