Editor’s note: The Current recently published a letter from David Hunter, President of Combermere Lodge Limited. Click HERE to read that letter. The Current has now received the following response from Friends of the Madawaska Watershed.
Dear Editor,
Friends of the Madawaska Watershed (MW Friends) is disappointed in the response of Combermere Lodge Limited (CLL) to community concerns about the Chippawa Shores development, as recently expressed in a letter to The Madawaska Valley Current.
We believe that Mr. Hunter has received legal advice to support his analysis of what a developer is legally permitted to do in the area presently zoned as Tourism Commercial and Residential One-Exception.
However, all possible permitted legal uses may not be the same as wise uses.
It is the responsibility of Madawaska Valley Township Council to consider the long-term effects of a project on its taxpayers and on the environment in which we live, before they approve the rezoning request.
Two public meetings were held in which responses to the plans of CLL were raised. Almost all comments highlighted problems with the plan and proposed solutions to environmental and other issues. However, no comment we can recall said that the project was illegitimate or should be abandoned.
We remain of the opinion that the development plan, appropriately modified to address the concerns of the Independent Peer Reviewer hired by the County, and the science-based concerns expressed at the public meetings can be successful.
A plan that makes long-term environmental sense will also make long-term economic sense, both for the developer and the township.
That is what our group will continue to lobby for.
Respectfully,
Friends of the Madawaska Watershed
We encourage all readers to visit our website mwfriends.ca where we have articulated our concerns and posted links to township and county documents pertaining to this proposed development.
Photo mwfriends.ca
