Realtor's land assembly attempts concerns Squamish resident

A resident of a Squamish neighbourhood is speaking out against out-of-town developers trying to buy out homeowners for large scale development.

Brian Vincent who has lived in the Hospital Hill neighbourhood for 11 years is concerned that land assembly (where multiple homeowners sell together for a higher market value) pits neighbour against neighbour, and could cause tension in the community; which he says could lead to radically transforming residential areas into high-density and commercial developments.

Vincent believes letters from Coquitlam based firm Stonehous Reality were sent to 7 homes on his street. The letter states that there is interest from a private investor to purchase Vincent’s and his neighbours homes with the intent to build ‘medical centres’.

He says that while land assemblies are commonplace in Vancouver it’s relatively new to Squamish; “People are worried now, people are afraid. No one is safe in Squamish from these predatory practices of developers coming in and peeling one neighbour off after other and creating a domino effect, where people start to sell their properties off”.

Hospital Hill is largely zoned as single unit residential and would require any developer coming in to apply to the District of Squamish for rezoning of the land prior to projects being approved.

Vincent urges Squamish homeowners to resist being seduced by slick developers; “Hospital Hill is a very quaint, charming neighbourhood, people moved here for the quality of life and the character of the neighbourhood and the last thing that we want is for beautiful homes with lovely yards to be bulldozed and replaced by high density developments. It would completely change the character of Hospital Hill.”