A Whistler-type village is planned for West Vancouver's Hollyburn Mountain
Credit to Author: Susan Lazaruk| Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 21:47:08 +0000
West Vancouver — among the wealthiest of postal codes in B.C. — is planning to diversify its housing stock with a Whistler-style village on the slopes of Hollyburn Mountain.
The municipal district is preparing to launch Cypress Village, a new housing development that breaks the pattern of multimillion dollar fortresses on sprawling lots, with a series of public consultations.
The vision for the 350 acres of land that is located around the first switchback up to Cypress ski resort is for mixed housing for as many as 7,000 residents that would include purpose-built rentals and more affordable, smaller housing units.
British Pacific Properties, the developer who owns the lands, expects the community will include a community centre, daycare centres, library, firehall, an elementary school and an arts and culture space. A district councillor said the village could even include a commercial hub, anchored by a film studio or a Mayo Clinic-style health centre.
“It’s going to include smaller, more affordable units instead of the big single-family houses,” said West Vancouver District’s director of planning, Jim Bailey. “There are going to be apartments and townhouses, missing middle type of units. We’re trying to provide more diverse housing, smaller houses more suitable for families.”
The idea for a village has been around for years and the district is preparing to begin public consultations on the project so residents can have a say on what it will look like, said Coun. Craig Cameron.
District planning staff will draw up recommendations for council based on public input, said Bailey.
Those recommendations will likely be complete this year or early next year and BPP says it will be 2024 or 2025 before the development is ready for residents.
Cameron was part of an Upper Lands study review working group in 2015 which laid out a blueprint with the goal of protecting the natural beauty and features of the area that includes the development site, including enhancing recreation opportunities and creating neighbourhoods that are “inclusive, compact and sustainable.”
The review recommended no residential development above 1,200 feet and that 90 per cent of undeveloped lands be preserved as “limited use and recreation.” It also recommended the transfer of density to the village from other areas of the Upper Lands and development of “diverse recreational activities” through a series of trails.
The aim is to build sustainable neighbourhoods that would include shops, restaurants and other amenities and facilities and housing for “residents of different ages, abilities and incomes.”
Cameron said district council is committed to the development of the land, which is included in a parcel of land bought by BPP in the 1930s.
“They have been developing the land since that time,” he said. “Some people are saying don’t build anything. But it’s privately owned and they have the right to develop the land. And we don’t have the money to buy it back.” He guessed the cost of buying the land back would top $1 billion.
BPP is co-operating with the planning process and are onside with the idea of a village and diversifying housing stock.
And the land is not for sale, said Bryce Tupper, BP’s vice-president of planning and development, and he wouldn’t estimate its value.