Maple and SmartGrowth on the ground
fever said:
Living in North Van I've been watching the redevelopment of Lower Lonsdale over the last couple years. I actually used to live down in Lower Lonsdale when I was really little and the change is remarkable. Hopefully, similar redevelopment will begin to take place along the strip mall and car dealer infested Marine Drive corridor here. Westbank proposed 28 and 23 storey towers the other day on an old dealership site, so something might begin to happen there soon. Would this sort of development be out of the question in Maple Ridge? Is density considered a drawback to a proposal or as a bargaining chip to gain amenities for the community?
I have limited knowledge of Maple Ridge. I assume it is the most isolated and least developed of the regional town centres. This might be the beginning of the push to densify and intensify Maple Ridge along the lines of North Van, or possibly Richmond or Langley City. Have the design charettes looked at modelling your community after other suburbs in the region or are they more for looking at ideas to improve the area step by step? I'm not really familiar with charettes (around here they just hold public meetings in council or a developer appears as a delegation), so what are the advantages and disadvantages to this approach?
Hope that's not too many questions....
Hi there:
Lonsdale Quay is about to undergo another expansion with the DeCotis development of 12.5 acres, being the old Versatile shipyard. I
have followed the trials and tribulations of the Versatile site for some time as a friend of mine played some role in its disposal. The strip mall and car dealer infested Marine Drive has many cousins, Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows are too are typical of this sad indictment of urban planning in British Columbia and Canada as a whole. All parties are to blame, but to single out an evildoer it would have to be our inability to avoid parody of the United States. We just can't help ourselves. Ironically, many States in US, lead by urban planners, academics and politicians see the error of eir ways now and through an increasing awareness of the need for sustainability are leaning the other way. In Canada a few groups seem to taking charge of the new direction in urban planning, but to date have failed to recognize or refuse to acknowledge the fact that the old philosophy of the strip mall and the auto dealer dominated neighbourhood are the foundation of every Canadian town, district or city.
My problem with the strip malls and auto dealers that line, in our case, the Lougheed Highway is that at nightime they are bereft of life. Some districts in BC like Richmond or Metrotown have opted to concentrate auto dealers in one area, an automall. This seems a fairly simple and obvious solution. The trouble with the having an car dealer in the middle of town on the main drag is that the business is occupuing land that could otherwise be occupied by (as you hint at) a highrise. While there are strong arguments against highrises for blocking views of the local mountains I don't think that argument is strong enough a counter to the need for protecting agricultural land reserve as it exists in Maple Ridge, as an example.
Property owners and developers are locked in permanent battle with Planning Staff and Council in most municipalities to such a degree that no matter how sensible the solution to a particuclar problem, implementation is virtually impossible. For instance, it is said that the tax implications in Maple Ridge prevent property owners from selling properties in the downtown area. One would think that a District-proposed amendment or variance would adjust this situation and open the door to practical solutions to traffic, business, densification, choice of housing and the introdcution of new businesses which fit in with technology and information model that has become reality in our daily lives.
Density should be the aim of all urban planning in the Lower Fraser Valley. There is simply no other answer to sprawl than to redevelop neglected, abandoned, tired, ugly or oepn areas within our communities. If this involves mid to highrise solutions then so be it. The next or simultaneous goal is to create, develop and encourage new-age businesses in or around these densified areas. With this in palce we can provide entertainment, food, clothing, cultural and sporting activities, schools, colleges and healthcare and social services within these relatively tight-knit communities. Fewer cars, planes and freeways.
Maple Ridge, to answer your question, may once have been called or known as "the most isolated and least developed of the regional town cities", but I think that today there are probably many other districts who can comfortably wear the crown of "the most". We do however hold top spot in "intellectual deficit" when it comes to planning. A long, long trail of ineptitude, poor planning, greed, inward-looking and self-serving policies and the simple lack of technical knowledge has left
Maple Ridge far behind in the urban planning stakes. We may well be derserving of the Nobel Prize in the "Just Don't Get It" category. The theory of density is lost on Councils who have been bent on increasing our tax base by the voracious pursuit of subdivision applications and the establishment of ghettos purchased off the pages of off the peg architects' catalogues.
This is all about to change - or at least we'd like to think so. SmartGrowth on the ground has selected Maple Ridge as the first player in its scheme to re-plan four British Columbia Districts or Municipalities.
To answer your other question "Have the design charretes looked at modelling your (our) communtiy on other communities?" No. The idea is to obtain input from all the local stakeholder groups and to formulate through three workshops, the goals and objectives for the downtown plan with the aim of creating a unique, whole community. We have thus far held two workshops, the third one is on Wednesday March 31st at the ACT (our new theatre) and all comers are welcome. If you are in the neighbourhood you are welcome to attend. (7:00pm to 9:30pm).
The theme for the third workshop is: How do we reach our goals?
The advantage of the charrette process is that it is all inclusive. The public, council, property owners and everyone in the area and beyond are invited to participate. As someone in a previous posting mentioned we have facilitators at each table as we work through the various issues.
The whole thing is sponsored by the UBC Susntainable Communites Program, the Real Estate Foundation, Transport Canada, Environment Canada, Western Economic Diversification, VanCity Community Project Grants, Greater Vancouver Regional District, Distric of Maple Ridge, Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation, BC Ministry of Community, Aboriginal, and Women's Services.
Fingers Crossed.
The set of two 2 day charrettes take place in May/Jun.
