May 2019. Artist rendering of a planned residential tower on the northwest corner of Alma and West Broadway, in the Point Grey neighbourhood.
Meet the thin edge of the wedge, the future of residential neighbourhood development along the Broadway corridor, just one part of the changing architectural landscape planned for the city of Vancouver.
While the building above is under construction, the Musqueam and Squamish Nations development on the Jericho Lands, just one block west, will be well underway, with residential towers and townhouses planned for what will be the largest development project in the City of Vancouver in a generation, designed to house up to 30,000 residents on the 90-acre site.
And lest you believe that our city, over the course of the next 15 years will not undergo a massive change to the landscape of our city, there’s always the Oakridge Centre re-development at Cambie and West 41st Avenue …
And let us not forget, either, the development of the Heather Lands just north of Oakridge, a 21-acre site between West 33rd and 37th between Willow and Ash centred around Heather Street, built on First Nations land that will see the construction of 2500 new homes, which according to the development’s pro forma will house 40%, or more, secured low or moderate-income households, with the remaining homes “market rentals”.
The Heather Lands, set to begin construction. 2500 homes north of Oakridge.
While Rome Burns Our City Councillors Will Be Attending Gala Gala Do’s
All of the above is by way of saying: if our novitiate Vancouver City Councillors don’t soon get a handle on the planned development of our city, long in the works under the previous Vision Vancouver civic regime, our city will be well on its way to substantive architectural change and dramatically increased density well before our elected officials at Vancouver City Hall are able to have an impact on the future livability of our city, what kind of housing will be built across our city to address our current affordable housing crisis, what our neighbourhoods will look like 20 years from now, and how much land will be set aside for parks and community amenities.
At the moment, the pace of change is rapid and unforgiving — yet, after seven months in office, our Vancouver City Councillors seem not to have developed, or even given much thought to developing, a coherent City Plan that will not only preserve but enhance the livability of the Vancouver they, as our elected officials, and we as the general public, love and cherish.
Time for our Vancouver City Councillors to put on their big girl and boy galoshes, and settle down to the primary task at hand: creating our city.
