Governance and Services

North Vancouver District Council members sat in front of a packed house at their first regular council meeting since the Christmas break.

Most people in attendance at the Jan. 7th meeting were there to demonstrate their interest in the future of Lynn Valley as envisioned in the Lynn Valley Town Centre Implementation Plan. While a number of open houses, surveys and other feedback events had been held during the plan’s development – a fact of which the audience was reminded on more than one occasion over the course of the evening – the inclusion of  high-rise buildings in the planning department’s ultimate proposal was largely to account for a recent rush of activity amongst some local residents.

As expressed in letters to the North Shore News and self-published leaflets, their concerns include potential changes in traffic patterns and neighbourhood character that would accompany the high-density residences.

LynnValleyLife publisher Jim Lanctot described the tenor of the evening as being orderly and respectful. “The District council and staff were clearly willing to listen, and to go the extra mile to make sure people have the chance to express their views.  At the same time, they’re being clear that town planning is a joint District-citizen responsibility. They want people to suggest realistic solutions to the issues at hand, instead of just veto-ing everything they don’t like.”

Local resident Dan Ellis is the chair of the Implementation Committee, a citizen-based body that helps engage the community and monitors the implementation of the Official Community Plan in NVD neighbourhoods. At the council meeting, his presentation spoke to the importance of citizen involvement at all stages of the planning process, and the trade-offs that must be carefully considered in decision-making.

Town planner Karen Rendek gave a brief PowerPoint history of Lynn Valley’s town centre planning to date, which included the recommendation that Council direct staff to engage in further intensive community consultation activities over the next few months, with the goal of creating a draft plan by the end of April. Council approved this recommendation. For video clips of the meeting’s highlights, or the entire recorded proceedings, click here.

LynnValleyLife encourages all local residents to think about the planning issues thoughtfully, and to learn more by reading the background material along with views from a diverse range of citizens and professionals. The Lynn Valley Community Association offers an excellent Sustainable Communities speaker series that brings in expert speakers on a range of topics, and we have a reader-friendly, encapsulated history of the town planning process on our Front Porch blog.

Once you’ve had the chance to think through some of the issues at stake, we invite you to submit your own opinions and comments to share with other LynnValleyLife readers. Please click on this post for our submission guidelines.

Stay on top of the town planning consultation process by reading our blog and Events Calendar, becoming a member of the Lynn Valley Community Association, and visiting North Van District’s Identity website regularly. Given this newly extended consultation period, there’s no excuse to stay uninvolved!

At LynnValleyLife, our goal is to bring our readers easy-to-understand, but thorough information regarding all the important developments in the implementation of the Lynn Valley Town Centre plans. Last month, we wrote this blog post that provided some context to the preliminary applications submitted to North Van District by Bosa (whose application outlined its proposal for the Zellers site), and Safeway, which submitted a proposal for the redevelopment of its own property.

Then we asked you to send us your questions, about this stage of the proceedings or the town centre plans in general. One of the first queries that came in was “What’s the next step?”

To answer that, we went to Michael Hartford, NVD development planner, and NVD policy planner Karen Rendek. In regards to Bosa and Safeway’s preliminary applications, they tell us, the “next steps” are as follows:

1. These two applications are preliminary applications – there is no rejection or approval at the conclusion of a preliminary application, and District Council does not formally consider these proposals.  The District’s review of the preliminary applications pertains to issues such as community plan compliance and infrastructure upgrades.  The District is anticipating concluding each of these preliminary application processes within the next week.

2. Having reviewed the package of information provided to them by the District, the individual applicants will make decisions as to whether to proceed with what is called a “detailed development application.”

3. In this case, based on input received from the public at the preliminary stage, the District is encouraging these applicants to consult with residents prior to finalizing the content of their detailed applications.  Plans for any developer-hosted consultation have not been finalized, and this consultation would take place outside of the District’s normal application procedures.

4. If a detailed development application is submitted on these properties, District procedures indicate the need for a Public Information Meeting, hosted by the applicant. Here’s how a Public Information Meeting is conducted:

• This meeting is attended by District staff, and is required to be facilitated by a qualified meeting facilitator.
• The public is invited to attend this meeting, flyers are delivered to nearby properties, a sign will be posted on the property and notices will be placed in the newspaper.
• The local community association is also notified of this meeting.
• Comments are invited at the public information meeting as well as after the meeting, either through a comment sheet or by email.

5. Following the public information meeting, and any design changes arising from input received at this meeting, the detailed development application would be forwarded for consideration by District Council.  At that time, Council may defeat the proposal, or may decide to forward the application to a public hearing, at which residents may share their opinions directly with Council.

6. Following the close of the public hearing, Council would consider the input received at the hearing and make a decision regarding whether to approve or deny the rezoning request to accommodate the development.

In summary, for the two preliminary applications currently concluding, there will be opportunities for public input through at least two types of meetings: the public information meeting and the public hearing.  A third type of meeting, likely in a small group format or open house format hosted by the proponents, may occur prior to the detailed development applications being submitted.

Would you like more information? Visit the District’s Identity site, here, or contact Karen Rendek at 604 990-2295; [email protected]. If you have any questions you’d like us to explore for you regarding the town centre implementation plans, please let us know at [email protected]. We look forward to bringing you a variety of viewpoints on the many aspects of the plan to be considered!