A few days ago, our friends at the South Fraser Blog published an infographic that captures some of the complexity of our system of government in the Lower Mainland.
British Columbia has five levels of government — federal, provincial, regional and local, plus First Nations territories that are building their own level of sovereignity — as well as agencies and arrangements that overlap in countless ways. Continue reading
Port Moody’s NewPort Village is evidence of a substantial market for high-density living in the suburbs of B.C.’s Lower Mainland.
Bosa, the project developer, opened NewPort’s first mixed-use buildings about 1997, squeezing them against the butt end of an existing shopping centre. The owners of the Heritage Mountain plaza clearly refused to play ball with Bosa; but NewPort’s Whistler-style streetscape, complete with cute upmarket shops, proved popular with consumers and home buyers from the start. Within a few years the village was ringed with apartment towers. Continue reading
The Metro Vancouver regional authority has fired an unexpected shot to signal serious intentions around its 2011 Regional Growth Strategy.
At a closed meeting on Wednesday, May 16, Metro’s planning committee voted to take legal action if the Township of Langley, a member municipality within Metro, continued with plans for residential development on Trinity Western University property. Members of the Township’s council responded that the regional politicians were exceeding their authority. Continue reading
The Heights village in Burnaby grew up along a streetcar line that was built during the Canadian land boom and crash of 1911-1912. Great history, and some great little shops, some dating from the Italian immigration of the 1940s and 50s. I’m sure people have fond memories of this place; I feel regret in producing reasons why it doesn’t seem to work as well as it could.
The nature of the building fronts is patchy, with a few moderately brutal 1970s and 1980s blocks. The City of Burnaby revised and strengthened its plan for the section of Hastings Street between Boundary to Willingdon in 1992. The village designation was extended four blocks to the east in 2008. The key principle is to encourage mixed-use development on Hastings, with housing up and retail down. But one street does not a village make; Albert Street, one block north, is part of the village plan, and it offers some housing choices, and there is a fine library and recreation centre close by, but otherwise the area streets seem frozen in single-family detached mode. Continue reading
Fraseropolis 