I grew up in Richmond in the 1980s and 1990s, the land of farms and ditches, and would have loved to have continued to live there. Unfortunately, with increased housing prices and other massive changes, my husband and I opted to move out a little further and plant our roots in Surrey.
This is a decision we do not regret in the least. Surrey has so much to offer and really is the up-and-coming city in British Columbia.
However, as we walk through our neighbourhood it is clear that the city has really dropped the ball. Having grown up in Richmond, I never once saw a drainpipe jet out of the middle of someone’s lawn, I never saw homes being built so close together and in the most absurd places, and I never saw poorly built homes. So poorly built, in fact, that I can see errors that have clearly been overlooked with my own bare eyes.
These cookie-cutter single-family homes, within months of being built, are already eyesores and are aesthetically ruining neighbourhoods around Surrey, specifically in our Sullivan Heights area.
This isn’t something I see from time to time as I walk through our neighbourhood, it is an issue with every single-family home that has been built since we moved into this community more than four years ago.
With Sullivan Heights being the final area in Surrey for large amounts of new development, I shake my head at the fact the city has been so lazy in maintaining high building standards for new homes.
If Surrey so desperately wants to be a destination for future families and a main hub in the Lower Mainland, why on Earth is it allowing builders to remove old-growth trees and toss up homes (these places are done within months of breaking ground) with no attention to detail or aesthetics?
Stephanie Paukov