Growth in Metro Vancouver

It is always interesting to hear peoples points of view around growth in the region. We all know how the community is split on the issue of the Southlands. Recommendations from planners to densify the town core was a good solution to increase housing choice for people wishing to downsize or provide options for younger first time buyers but that idea as we all now know, was kiboshed by angry residents who apparently are unable to vision any change for Tsawwassen.

After a year and a half of "community consultation" the whole exercise was scrapped yet residents want more? In a January 15 letter to the editor in the Delta Optimist Peter White paints broad generalizations that seem to appeal to many people in Tsawwassen. He discounts the the TAPC committee for suggesting housing under the powerlines but does not take in to account any planning guides that would decrease set backs and leave the areas ACTUALLY under the powerlines as bike paths and / or greenspace.

In the same letter White complains about the lack of parking spots in our malls etc. The benefits of densification have long shown that intra community car traffic proportionally decreases with urban growth. It is odd that people still think that Tsawwassen should be catering to the car and to parking stalls when pretty much every other community in the civilized world is thinking about alternatives in community planning and design.

The kicker in White's letter is his last sentence...."You cannot just dump thousands more people and their vehicles into Tsawwassen as it presently sits." Mr. White is right on this one.

You have to plan and there has to be some political will to pull it off. An interesting article in the January 15 Vancouver Sun illustrates the problems and solutions that will present themselves as Metro grows over the coming decades. Pro-active Mayors and councils will ratifying some of these ideas over the coming months.

Will our council approve changes that will see elimination of "green zones" which have been replaced by conservation and recreation areas. Harold Steeves was the lone Metro director opposing the plan. His hard line stance on the ALR is ironic considering what has gone in Richmond all these years on his watch.

A Metro Vancouver power point presentation is attached below.