A commercial property owner says Langley Township's proposal to allow highrises in clusters removed from Fraser Highway is of "no use" and should instead "focus on redeveloping Fraser Highway" by allowing highrises on the main street.

Ray DeWolff and his family have owned a commercial property on Fraser Highway for the past seven years and he says the Township could revive main street "with the stroke of a pen; it wouldn't cost the Township anything."

DeWolff is staunchly opposed to a bypass to divert traffic from Fraser Highway because the high-traffic visibility is good for business, provided the street parking problem is solved.

This problem could be solved by negotiating trades with the property owners, says DeWolff.

"I would gladly sign over 12 feet of frontage in exchange for the zoning to build 15 or 20 storeys. And I think other property owners would feel the same because the property values of the new zoning would more than compensate for the loss of an extra 12 feet on each side of Fraser Highway to allow for four lanes of traffic plus street parking," said DeWolff.

DeWolff is happy with his current building at 27118 Fraser Highway (The Aldergrove Star is one of his tenants) and takes pride in maintaining it for his two commercial street-level tenants and four residential tenants in the two floors above. The building is relatively new at about 30 years old, compared to many much older buildings on the main street. He's also pleased to see some of his neighbouring landlords, such as Aldergrove's Gordy Clark, have gone to great lengths to "spiff" up their buildings.

However, he's noticed that some landlords have "let their places go because they can't rent them out for enough to fix them up. And part of the problem is that they don't have enough parking spots."

And if highrises are only permitted in clusters off Fraser Highway without widening the highway this will only create more gridlock on Fraser Highway, reasons DeWolff.

Longtime Aldergrove resident Peter Klynsoon agrees with DeWolff's assessment of the traffic problem on Fraser Highway. Klynsoon wrote to The Star: "Either plan (put forward by the Township) calls for 16 storey buildings, up to six towers... but there is absolutely no plan for transportation. Think of all these 6,000 new residents getting in their car at 6 a.m. on a Fraser Highway that is already congested at this time of day... where is the streetcar or ALRT?"

Klynsoon adds, "It is absolutely unacceptable that the taxpayers of Aldergrove could live with this developer's dream."

DeWolff says the only solution is to "redevelop Fraser Highway to make it work for everybody. They could follow the example of Georgia Street downtown — it has highrises and four lanes of traffic plus street parking on both sides.

"The Township has so much power to do this, with the simple stroke of a pen."