Big changes could be on the horizon for Chisholm Street in Ladner Village.
City council recently approved a contract award of almost $180,000 for a consultant team to help shape the Ladner Waterfront Public Lands Development Strategy and Chisholm Street Reconfiguration project, a site redevelopment strategy and concept for the revitalization of Delta-owned lands along the waterfront at Chisholm Street.
It was one of the key recommendations by the Ladner Village Renewal Advisory Committee.
The primary focus will be the former Seven Seas site and Spot on the Water Park, along with developing options to reconfigure Chisholm Street and allow for future dike raising along the entire length of the street.
The potential benefits of including two additional nearby Delta-owned sites, the Chisholm Street public parking lot at the corner of Chisholm and Elliott streets and the Delta Museum Annex site, in a land disposition strategy to enhance redevelopment opportunities to activate the waterfront is to also be explored, a report to council explains.
The multi-phased strategy includes the consultant conducting research and engaging with landowners and key stakeholders, as well as develop a preliminary waterfront redevelopment strategy.
The Ladner Village Renewal Advisory Committee, which released its final report early last year, was established by council in 2019 to provide advice on the renewal of village.
The committee's mandate focused specifically on the best utilization of Delta-owned buildings in the village, possible streetscape and harbour waterfront design concepts, marketing and strategic incentives to attract development.
The committee discussed a number of options including the redesign of Chisholm Street as a catalyst for revitalization of the waterfront and the village overall.
One potential approach involves reducing the right-of-way width and converting the road to a one-way configuration to increase the size of the upland lots to render them developable without the adjacent water lots.
The committee recommended commissioning a study to further examine the option for raising the dike, narrowing Chisholm Street and converting it to a one-way street and adding the portion of the unused right-of-way to upland parcels to increase developable area of lots on the north side.
The committee, overall, came up with 35 recommendations, 15 of which have been identified as high priority actions to encourage a varied range of housing through smart densification, activate the waterfront for commercial development and public access, and support business sustainability through increased vibrancy.
Among the recommendations, the committee suggested redeveloping the Delta Museum Annex as a mixed-use site, seeking out opportunities to build a pedestrian/cycle bridge to Ladner Harbour Park and amending the Official Community Plan’s land use and height designations.
The biggest issue the committee felt needed to be addressed is increasing density and heights to allow more residential uses.
The report states that building terracing should be required along street edges so they maintain their village scale with three to four storeys maximum along the street and up to six storeys in some locations
Delta council, meanwhile, also recently awarded $170,000 for a sidewalk replacement along Bridge Street in the village.
The city undertook a $6-million streetscape improvement project in the village five years ago.
