Land rich, industry poor
With no industry to speak of, West Vancouver has one business keeping it afloat: real estate, both residential and retail.
“We’re relying on residential taxation and the small commercial component that supports the residents,” said Mayor Michael Smith during a candid presentation to the West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce on May 30, the eve of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ convention in Vancouver.
While a Canadian Federation of Independent Business report released the previous day took the country’s major cities to task over spending, an earlier CFIB report ranked West Van one of B.C.’s most-improved municipalities in terms of spending.
But it isn’t enough for Smith, who told the largely friendly audience that good economic times – two years of no increase in property taxes and healthy budget surpluses – was unusual.
“The reality is, it’s not sustainable,” he said. “We need to be more sensible with our district-owned lands.”
This means working with developers to redevelop hubs such as Ambleside and to leverage opportunities on new sites – such as the Rodgers Creek development British Pacific Properties Ltd. is pursuing – to build vibrant new communities with amenities that can augment and even replace older facilities.
Smith said, “We need to use our land and zoning to supplement what we can raise from [taxes]. That’s the path through the maze to build our endowment fund for what we need.”
Rambleside
West Vancouver might not have industry, but Mayor Michael Smith told the West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce that Ambleside is a good stand-in.
“[It’s] like an industrial park – there’s a few people around during the day – it’s completely empty at night,” he said.
And, if genuine industrial areas around the Lower Mainland are seeing new high-
performance facilities built, the Ambleside area is dogged by deteriorating facilities and opposition to new development.
“Our police building is falling down. The rest of the lot is empty,” Smith said, frustration evident in his voice. “[Yet] there’s opposition to doing anything but leaving empty space.”
Indeed, applause erupted when he said time had come to move forward with Grosvenor International Canada Inc.’s ambitious proposal for that block.
The project – combining residential, retail and office uses – returns to West Van council for approval in mid-June, having been the subject of community consultation since 2010 and many design refinements.
“It’s time we gave it a stamp of approval and moved ahead with this thing,” Smith said to applause. “This project is going to generate about $36 million in immediate cash for selling our lands, which will allow us to build a new public safety building, and it will generate millions more in community amenities, and millions of dollars in tax.”
The next step will be linking the Ambleside waterfront to Marine Drive, a vision initially approved in 1975.
Battle Royal
Hard to miss on the way to the West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce meeting was the ongoing makeover to the south portion of Park Royal shopping centre. Announced in 2011, construction is proceeding apace, and plans for two residential towers on a slip of district-owned land to the mall’s east (at Taylor Way) could follow.
With the Lalji family and Park Royal vice-president Rick Amantea in attendance, West Smith told the chamber that making sure the residential towers – among other projects – rose on district-owned land was important for the municipality’s financial health.
Should plans change and the towers be located on Squamish First Nation land south of the mall, the development would not generate tax revenue for the district. Smith emphasized his willingness to work with Park Royal and other developers to maximize community benefits. •
