Category Archives: Urban Villages Project

Downtown New West goes for the big time

March 18, 2013 By in New Westminster, Urban Villages Project Tags: , 3 Comments

Columbia Street

The riverfront city of New Westminster enjoyed a long history as an industrial and commercial hub separate from Vancouver. But as suburban populations and shopping malls grew to the east, north and south, New West lost something of its distinctive position and much of its commercial market.

The City government responded with repeated beautification efforts and a failed attempt to launch a new Granville Island development at Westminster Quay; but through 1980s and 90s, Columbia Street, the downtown area’s high street, grew increasingly frazzled and transient. Continue reading →

The high street in White Rock: hold for development

February 18, 2013 By in Surrey Langley White Rock, Urban Villages Project Tags: 3 Comments

Johnson Road, White Rock

White Rock, a part of Metro Vancouver, is a small city on the U.S. border with a dry, warm climate (relative to areas north of the Fraser River ) and a splendid promenade and cafe district along Boundary Bay. People in fashionable new neighbourhoods in nearby Surrey sometimes claim to live in White Rock, but there’s at least one key difference. 2011 federal census figures show that close to 30 per cent of White Rock’s population is over the age of 65, compared with 12.1 per cent in Surrey and 13.7 per cent in the City of Vancouver. Continue reading →

Holding the line in Central Lonsdale

January 15, 2013 By in North Shore, Urban Villages Project Tags: , 2 Comments

Shops, Fourteenth Street, North Vancouver

Bakery front, Lonsdale Avenue, North VancouverCentral Lonsdale sits east and west of Lonsdale Avenue, the “spine” of the City of North Vancouver. North and south, it extends from Upper Levels Highway down to 8th Street.  The area offers advantages as an urban village: good public transit,  independent shops and services, recreation and culture, and proximity to downtown Vancouver (with  Shopfront, Lonsdale Avenue, North VancouverBurrard Inlet serving as a buffer.)

But the neighbourhood and the city  government face development pressures, and  controversy came to a boil in December 2012. Onni, a major developer in the region, said it would withdraw an application to construct two condo towers (24 and 17 storeys, with 350 units), a six-storey office block and ground-floor retail space, citing “public abuse” and a “smear campaign” on the part of two members of Council. Continue reading →

Renovating Austin Heights

November 20, 2012 By in Tricities, Urban Villages Project Tags: , 2 Comments

The City of Coquitlam, which has a current population of about 130,000, was a Angle parking in the key pedestrian block of Austin Avenue, Coquitlamsuperstar of sprawl in the 1970s and 80s.  The City government has  changed course in its more recent neighbourhood plans.  The Austin Heights plan, dated April 2011, would see 5,000 additional residents housed  between Blue Mountain and Linton streets.

“Coun. Doug Macdonell, who grew up in Austin Heights and attended Austin Heights elementary, said the area needs to be modernized. ‘It’s come to a time now where it’s pretty tired,’ he said, adding, ‘We need the density to rehabilitate this area and make it a thriving community again.’ (Tri-City News.) Continue reading →