A proposed comprehensive plan for Ladner Village is done.
The Ladner Village Renewal Advisory Committee, which had a couple of city councillors and eight community members, including representation from the business and development sectors, wrapped up its mandate with a final meeting last week.
The group spent a year going over various ideas on how the revitalize the village core and waterfront, discussing concepts by civic staff, hearing what the development community had to say and seeing what other communities have done.
Their final report has a comprehensive series of recommendations that will be discussed at council on Feb. 24th.
Coun. Dylan Kruger, the committee’s vice-chair, said council is to consider sending the plan back to staff to then make further recommendations on how to proceed.
“At the end of the day, it will be up to mayor and council if this is the direction we want to go. We got together community leaders, business leaders and others, we toured places like Steveston and New Westminster and White Rock, found the best practices and put together what we think would work in terms of revitalizing and creating some more vibrancy on Chisholm Street. That was a big priority that council had asked us to look, as well as what’s economically feasible,” he explained.
The committee was told there needs to be a public gathering space on the waterfront
Kruger said one of the biggest things they heard is that it’s currently not seen as economically feasible to rebuild on Chisholm Street with the current building limits.
One of the other themes the committee heard was that the riverfront is not being taken advantage of as much as it could be. People want access to the river and seascape but it’s not as accessible in Delta as other places.
The need for public art and gathering spots, among other things, was also frequently raised.
Kruger said parking is a big issue but the committee decided against recommending the construction of a parkade.
The committee also heard that transit needs to be brought right into Ladner Village.
Steveston Village in Richmond changed when people could live in the core, have all their services there but also have transit options to get in and out.
The city’s current inability to secure longer-term water lot leases from the government remains a problem, but the committee was told Delta should not wait until longer-term leases are finally in place but take control of what it can on shore.
The committee also heard that there’s a lack of knowledge about Ladner and many people don’t even know where it’s located.
