Has anyone seen the headlines on the frontpage of this week’s Echo? “TRILOGY APPROVED” was bad enough, a rammed-through third reading two days before the election. But look at the way the news was broken on the one below that: “RESTORATION PROPOSED FOR HISTORIC VILLAGE THEATRE”. As a Cumberland citizen, I was initially excited to read that news. I know how important the Ilo Ilo is to this town. But the article only mentions the plans for the theatre in one small paragraph, after the big story: a four or five story hotel and commercial space, all crowded into the lot between the theatre and Cameron’s hairdressers, (demolishing that little house next door, of course), right across from the old Waverly watering hole. Then, get ready for this, a 25,000 sq. ft. (check in on this number, and compare it to the apartment buildings you are already familiar with elsewhere, to get the real picture) ground-floor commercial space all topped off with 250 apartments! This monster will go, as I understand the article, right across from the wooded area of school grounds on Beaufort Ave. It will be tall, the number of stories not stated, but potentially controversial.

The headlines shocked me. Reading the articles made me nauseous. It has struck me to my core. Here’s why: there is a plot going on behind closed doors here. People posing as custodians of heritage, but really trashing it. A plot to exploit our “historic village setting” for its intrinsic value as a historic village site with the construction of two buildings non-conforming to OCP design guidelines, so that this wannabe developer can get rich and fat. This is just plain wrong. Why should the lives of the many be compromised for the gain of a few?

Now, we are assured by the resident developer, Scott Harrison, that this is all in accordance with “smart growth”, and that it “really does mesh well “ with what is already here in Cumberland.” Well, I am not convinced. I am very wary of the term “smart growth”, as it has been adopted by Trilogy and other mega-developers as their byline. One of the purports of “smart growth” is that developers work in resonance with citizen input, and the OCP. The picture in the paper looks nothing like what is described in the OCP. Building upward is smart in the city, but not in Cumberland. This “integrated model” will stick out like a sore thumb on our main street. I dearly hope the economic collapse brings “smart growth” down, SOON, to the reality on Planet Earth.

I have not done the research, but I am willing to make the claim that, on Vancouver Island, there are NO villages like Cumberland left. A large majority of the buildings you see here have been here since the beginning of our history. We have lost much of the downtown core to fires and ill-conceived demolitions over the years, but there are still a few “grande dames”, and most of the houses are original. They speak to us about the people and events that shaped this island, province and country. Cumberland was probably the most important commercial centre in the British Empire at one time. Ginger Goodwin lived and died here. We had the largest Chinatown north of San Francisco. If these walls could speak… And they do, if we choose to listen.

Cumberland citizens have banded together for many causes. A recent success story is the Cumberland Community Forest. Bought and saved by the people, for the people. I think saving the village is, by far, more important. I have seen many forests cut down for ugly profit. They grow back, if left alone, and they can one day be beautiful and productive again. But when an old village is taken down, and built anew, the patina of age and experince never comes back. When you build something “heritage style”, it is still modern. It is only a style. Even with a faux finish, it will never be heritage. It will rot first.

Wake up, citizens. What we have here, with its potholes, peeling paint, and leaking water lines, is a heritage village. One of a kind, fragile and precious. We need to build a force that will challenge these constant threats by corporations to the survival of our community. We must stop this blatant and insensitive attitude of any Tom, Dick or Harry, coming in from elsewhere, thinking they can make a fortune on Cumberland’s history just by dangling a little amenities package to council, and get the green light to go ahead and tear it down,to rebuild it, to resell it. I hate the design, by the way. It looks like most of the other developments in Courtenay and Comox, by the same old architect: Greed and Associates. It doesn’t blend in with the rest of the street, or even that block. It isn’t what I want to see on Dunsmuir Ave. Our council and mayor have repeatedly said we need these sharks to increase our tax-base and rebuild our infrastructure. Well, show us the money, or even some concrete numbers. None of these developers have EVER said they would do that. None. As a councilor, or someone making these big decisions for the future of us all, I would really want to get these “promises” in writing, and in great detail, before I ever trusted the future of Cumberland to their development schemes.

I know the law supports any private land holder to do whatever he chooses, within certain limits, on his own property, but if that owner wants to continue living in the community he is so radically shaping, does it matter to him at all that he might be offending the rest of us, and shunned for his actions by his fellow villagers? Or does he just ignore public opinion, and “take the money and run”? We see this time and time again: developers do not usually like to stay and live with the projects they have manifested. It’s all about the money. Everybody knows that, so, all you cons out there, don’t try and fool us into thinking you CARE about Cumberland and want to improve the village. I, for one, want to say I do NOT approve of his proposal, and hope the council rejects it in its entirety.

Go back to the drawing board, Scott, and try again. Give the OCP some credit. Try and convince us that you really like this place. And try and do it without any rezoning requests.

If Scott Harrison, or Trilogy, or Bell Group, or Coal Valley really cared about Cumberland, they would donate some of their fortunes to preserve what is left of it for posterity. Maybe get their hands dirty filling a few potholes. This is what heritage means. A history of working together.