June Garden Tips for Lynn Valley

What’s on this month’s garden to-do list? We asked local landscapers Matt and Rob Boyd of Endless Summer Landscaping to give us their top tips for a beautiful yard.

Mulch. It seems to be many landscapers’ philosophy that when all else fails, just go for a thick layer of decorative mulch or rocks. It gives a clean look and hides a multitude of landscaping failures. Mulch is also a relatively cheap material to purchase. There are a million types of mulching materials, including natural sources like fallen leaves, and you can get creative.

Outdoor lighting. Most people assume outdoor lighting means solar lights along the driveway, but there are many ways to incorporate lighting outside, including candles, lanterns hung from trees, and others. For a unique look, DIY Network dresses up a plain strand of lights with aluminum screening.

Pots. While we acknowledge a large collection of pots can be expensive, it encourages people to buy one or two a year over time to create an impressive display.

Annuals planting. You can start to plant your favorite selection of annuals to bring colour and life to all your garden beds.

Trim Perennials. Trim up and divide your perennials to get ready to complement your annuals.

Lynn Valley Day 2013 was a blast!

– photo courtesy Sonia McDiarmid

Well, we had a great time at Lynn Valley Day, and we hope you did, too! To judge by the smiles in the crowd and the happy participants in the LVL games and races, Lynn Valleyites know better than to let a little rain dampen their spirits.

From the Friday night gala, to the pancake breakfast, parade, displays, crafts, races, carnival rides, concerts and more, Lynn Valley Days 2013 was a wonderful celebration of community. Thank you so much to the host organizations (Lynn Valley Lions and the Lynn Valley Community Association), the extra volunteers who stepped up, the incredible merchant sponsors who make the event possible, and everyone else who went the extra mile to make this day something to be proud of.

Take a minute to check out our online photo album, and submit some of your own shots to us if you have a favourite you’d like to share!

Town centre feedback invited at June open houses

As promised, North Vancouver District has expanded the time frame for public consultation on the issue of how the municipality’s Official Community Plan will be implemented in Lynn Valley town centre.

We hope that people will share their views and bring their ideas to the table. You can visit the North Vancouver District booth at Lynn Valley Day, and attend one of the four open house events that are taking place in our neighbourhood from between June 1 and 12. Online feedback will also be collected. All details for engaging in the process are here.

Once options are explored over the spring and summer months, the vision will be narrowed down in the fall to preferred option(s) that will be put before NVD council for their consideration.

We’ve already reported on Mark Sager’s invitation to give your thoughts about the Bosa redevelopment of the mall area, and this will be ongoing up to and including Lynn Valley Day. Read this post for information about Mark’s storefront in the mall.

There have never been so many opportunities to share your thoughts, Lynn Valley, so we encourage you to get out there and have your opinions registered!

 Here’s some information from the NVD Identity website:

Celebrate the Long Weekend with great dance band!

Lynn Valleyites are invited to get their groove on  – the Lynn Valley Legion is bringing back a great crowd-pleaser on Saturday, May 18!

Says organizer Brenda Williams: “Once again we have convinced one of Vancouver’s best R ‘n B, blues,  and funky dance bands to come to the North Shore for a night of super fun, dancing and socializing! This event always sells out, but we’d like the neighbourhood to know that there is some fine entertainment in the Valley!”

 Doors open at 7 p.m., and the band starts at 8 and goes until about midnight. Tickets are $20 and available at the Legion during business hours (they are open 7 days a week). Ticket info is at 604-987-2050.

Project Sunflower Diary #1: Lynn O’Malley sows her seeds

From the garden of Lynn O’Malley, voice of the valley:

For the past two months, the LynnValleyLife team has been planning and promoting its scheme to blanket Lynn Valley in summertime sunflowers. We’ve talked sunflowers, mailed sunflowers, photo’d sunflowers and dreamt sunflowers. It occurred to me that amidst all the fuss, I might forget to actually plant the darn things!

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LVL Network members get first peek and VIP pricing at Seylynn Village

We like to offer special treats to our LynnValleyLife Network members whenever we can. So we’re delighted to announce a special, LynnValleyLife-only reception at which our members will be amongst the very first to experience a brand-new neighbourhood just down the hill – before it’s even built! Having the chance to visit the new Seylynn Village development before the general public brings some other bonuses as well – from preferred pricing to the widest selection of suites.

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Lynn Valley Day 2013 will hit new heights (literally!)

There’s always something new to look forward to at Lynn Valley Days, and 2013 will be no exception!

For starters, we want to give a big community thank-you to William F. White International, which is sponsoring all of Lynn Valley Days’ cable and power needs. (And thank you to Lynn Valley’s Garin Josey, the William F. White VP who is making this happen for us!) Amongst other things, what this will mean is no more distressing generator failures, and a much better-balanced sound system at the sold-out Gala Dinner Dance. And if the weather cooperates, it will also mean some amazing light-up-the-sky special effects on Friday night!

People, businesses make it happen

It’s thanks to business sponsorships of all shapes and sizes that Lynn Valley Day has become the great event that it has. Please have a look at some of the other sponsors who stepped forward to support the community festival this year (list is not complete, we know more names are yet to be added!). But it’s not just businesses that make it happen – Lynn Valley Day is the result of months of hard work by host organizations Lynn Valley Lions and Lynn Valley Community Association, and many individual volunteers.

Shirin Ismail of the LVCA is once again coordinating volunteers, and would love people to step forward to offer just a couple of hours here or there. Whether you lean towards traffic control during parade time, staffing a ride on the midway or site clean-up, there is definitely a place for you to earn your karma points. The times and tasks, along with Shirin’s contact info, are listed here.

New ride promises good view

We’re definitely looking forward to watching people’s faces as they take in the new Euro-Bungee ride. Thrill-seekers will be strapped into this new attraction, then bounce on a trampoline that will shoot them 40 feet into the air – so hang onto your dentures!

People looking for more old-fashioned fun will once again be glad of the free games and races that the LynnValleyLife team will be organizing in its corner of the field. Egg-and-spoon, gunny sacks, three-legged races, ballon toss, the ever popular Hyak Rafting Super Soaker…. what more could you want for some good old family fun? (Well, if there IS something more, please tell us – it’s not too late to incorporate some other favourite races! Just email [email protected].)

Also new in our neck of the woods will be the chance to have your photo taken with our custom-painted Project Sunflower photo board (thank you, Julie Jay!) If you haven’t already picked up your free packet of seeds for Project Sunflower, please stop by and do so – we’re hoping to see hundreds of sunflowers blooming in the valley this summer!

Rain or shine, there will be something old and something new, something borrowed and …. oh, right, that’s weddings. But it holds true for Lynn Valley Days as well, and we know you’re not going to want to miss the Lions Cook Shack 7:30am Pancake Breakfast, the 10 a.m. parade, and all-day fun at the park. Keep our special Lynn Valley Days section handy so you’ll have access to all the entertainment schedules and other details as they are finalized!

 

Mark Sager given mandate to gather public planning views

Last fall, Canada Safeway and Bosa Development sent North Vancouver District some preliminary applications for a newly imagined Lynn Valley Mall area. Their plans called for high-rise towers that got the ‘thumbs-up’ from some residents, but also resulted in an immediate outcry from many people who were concerned about traffic, densification and a change in neighbourhood character. 

There was enough concern, in fact, that North Vancouver District Council voted to re-engage the public in a discussion about redevelopment options for the Lynn Valley town centre area.

Now we’ve learned that Mark Sager, founding partner of Sager LLP and former mayor of West Vancouver, has been given the mandate to be the sounding board for the residents of Lynn Valley. He’ll gather feedback, engage in conversations, listen to questions and concerns, and help Bosa come up with a new proposal that is in line with what the neighbourhood wants while being economically feasible for the developer.

“I am really, really honoured to be given this opportunity,” he said over a coffee in Delany’s. “Bosa is one of the most respected builders in Western Canada. They’ve said to me ‘Go out, and then tell us what’s the right thing to do here.'”

Nat Bosa, he says, lives on the North Shore. While leasing the old Zellers space to Target might be an easy economic answer, Mark says that Nat wants to build something with more neighbourhood appeal.

Mark and a team of students are inviting local residents to visit them in the mall, where they will be setting up a storefront where the pet store used to be (across from CIBC). From Saturday, May 4 to 25, hours will be Monday to Wednesday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday and Friday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday 1 p.m. to  4 p.m.

 

You’ll also find them at Lynn Valley Day on Saturday, May 25, and Mark is also hoping to snag some tickets for the virtually sold-out May 24 Gala Dinner.”At the end of the day, we have to do something that makes economic sense,” says Mark. “But Nat is completely open to hearing a range of ideas.”

Mark has introduced himself to the neighbourhood via this letter that was mailed out to 7,000 Lynn Valley homes this week. If you’re not able to pop into the mall, he invites you to email your comments to him at mark[at]sagerllp.com. (We’ll also be sure to post any of his team’s feedback forms or community information here on LynnValleyLife, so keep an eye on our Front Porch blog’s Town Planning section.)

Mark says that since his letter hit the streets, the response has been fantastic. “I’ve had many very thoughtful emails in just the first two days,” he said.

While Mark doesn’t want to give his own opinion regarding the best direction for Lynn Valley’s future development – he’s keeping an open mind as well – he does say that many residents seem to want more of a ‘village centre’ feel than a ‘town centre’ feel, one in keeping with our mountainside location. He’s very familiar with our community, he says, having lots of friends here and a penchant for our YYoga studio, and he knows it’s a place where a great many people choose to raise their families.

Mark himself was born and raised above the family shop in Dundarave, where he says his father planted flowers down the middle of the street. “I grew up always being aware of the things that make a community,” he says. He enjoys the challenge of consensus-building, loves listening, and has a reputation as someone who is patient and thoughtful – all qualities that stood him in good stead when he was the West Van mayor, and will no doubt play a major role in his new post as Lynn Valley town planning confidante!