I am writing to express my astonishment at the reported lack of support of the Salt Spring Island Coffee Company rezoning application due to concerns regarding industrial sprawl and the large number of covenants stipulated by the Trustees themselves.

To decline the application based upon issues that are outside of the applicant’s control and are not material to the issues that should be considered would be gross negligence, and would result in a great disservice to Salt Spring Island and its residents.

The issues should concern the impact the application will have on the environment, balanced against the impact it will have on the island’s economy.

Four environmental reports have concluded that the environmental impact is negligible. We should be extolling the virtues of the proponent’s lofty goals to create a model enterprise that, if supported, could be a beacon of sustainable development for Salt Spring to brag about to the rest of the world.

To deprive Salt Spring of such a good news story and of an economic engine that generates 20 jobs for families on island and adds $1 million to this small economy, based upon such ridiculous excuses and rationale would be a catastrophic misuse of an elected representative’s position.

We are talking about a coffee company, not an industrial chemical manufacturer. If the production of coffee is such an environmental hazard then how can the trustees, in all good conscience, continue to consume coffee if it is such a burden on the environment and the community? Just because it is in our backyard and not someone else’s shouldn’t make it okay to consume coffee roasted in someone else’s community. How hypocritical is that?

If we should trust any commercial/industrial developer, wouldn’t we be better off putting our trust in a local on-island company that has shown it wants to listen and work to address the community’s concerns and which has shown its good faith time and time again? Or would you rather open the door for another developer, likely from off-island who might come in, strip the land bare without any concern or thought for the impact it might have on the land and the community as a whole?

Please, I implore you, let good sense prevail.

Mark Aston

Salt Spring