Editor:
The first time I heard about the City of Burnaby looking at allowing laneway houses, I thought it was a bad idea.
Not the worst idea, but I have many concerns about these laneway houses being built in my neighbourhood. Adding so many more people into our quiet neighbourhoods means a loss of parking and more traffic.
But those negatives would be made even worse if the city does what is pictured in some of their literature. I refer to a brochure that I saw that showed a two-storey laneway house that would be a monstrous addition to any single-family neighbourhood.
One storey is one thing, but adding two storeys? You’ve got to be joking. Look at the size of these things. Imagine living next to a house and one of these suddenly gets plunked into your view. It’s just too much.
I support new housing, but adding density near SkyTrain routes is a better idea than allowing these giant things in our local neighbourhoods. They might add a few more units to the housing stock but at what cost to neighbourhoods? Stick with high-density housing options where they belong and leave our quiet areas alone.
F. Fong, Burnaby
