Editor,

I am speaking as a Langley resident, and as someone who has been involved in Langley city government for several years.

It is not a small request to make of property owners or of a city to propose eminent domain, and that term should not be used lightly. The property owners in question are the decedents of those who helped to found and build Langley, and should be treated as such. Similar ideas to those recently discussed at the Planning Advisory Board have been brought up many times in the past, and the property owners have made passionate and logical pleas to prevent such actions, and their voices need to be respected. Eminent domain should be relegated to a last ditch way of performing critically needed actions, not as a way to connect one portion of the city to another, with little current demand, without even entertaining other avenues.

It is true that the existing wall between Sunrise Lane and Seawall Park prevents pedestrian access, but better approaches could be developed, with the cooperation of the property owners, whilst maintaining their privacy and not impeding access to their properties, to address this issue. Constructive and creative approaches should be the norm in Langley, not the exception.

Langley needs to be a place where issues like this can be discussed in a creative forum, and ideas developed that can be seen as a positive for both sides of the equation. The “us versus them” mentality that keeps rearing its ugly head in this community is not healthy.

We are all in this together.

THOMAS GILL

Langley

Editor’s note: Gill is a Langley city councilman and candidate for mayor.