Taking The Lead In Neighbourhood Planning

The positive response shown by the almost 200 residents who attended recent community meetings revealed strong support for the False Creek South Neighbourhood Association’s new planning initiatives for more affordable housing and services to meet new and existing needs.

Organized through the Association’s standing committee, RePlan, and its community planning workgroup (CPG), the meetings were made possible by numerous hours of behind-the-scenes work by resident architects and other interested neighbours in envisioning False Creek South’s future.

They have been sharing ideas with Broadway Lodge, which hopes to establish a new facility in the Creek. That brings Vancouver Coastal Health into the mix and, potentially, BC Housing, the agency that develops, manages and administers a range of subsidized housing options and programs for the provincial government.

Once these ideas from the CPG took visible shape, the Association arranged the community meeting on January 25 at the False Creek Community Centre and a repeat event four days later at the False Creek Co-op”s Sitka Square meeting room.

The main speaker, former City of Vancouver chief urban designer Scott Hein, who is working pro bono with the CPG, took participants through a visual tour of an Intergenerational Hub and Campus of Care near the Moberly/Commodore intersections east of Leg-In-Boot Square. His presentation identified both existing and potential “transformational drivers” – significant factors that influence design – covering virtually all of the elements to be addressed in both projects.

The Hub would bring together a range of new housing, including co-ops and rentals, with a focus on diverse and integrated homes for seniors and families. The need for workforce housing, with a special focus on much-needed essential service workers, is particularly acute. Other ideas to be explored include such services as a day care centre, possible student housing, and retail and leisure opportunities.

Simon Neill, Executive Director of the Broadway Lodge, spoke about the Campus Of Care – a  different and more homelike form of providing long term care that could also integrate services for older adults living in their own homes. Addressing the idea of the Intergenerational Hub, he particularly emphasized problems inherent in the separation of children and elders in day-to-day urban life and the salutary benefit to both of close and continuing interaction.

Sharon Yandle, past-president of the FCSNA and its liaison to RePlan, said that these ideas should be seen in the context of the “ARC” Formula, a statement of our community’s core values and shared goals recently passed unanimously by Association delegates.

The ARC Formula

1. AFFORDABILITY 

False Creek South was originally developed in the 1970s as a mixed tenure, mixed income community of 1/3 low income, 1/3 middle income and 1/3 high income residents. It has succeeded beyond original expectations to become one of the world’s most viable urban neighbourhoods. Our goal is to retain and increase the stock of affordable housing on that basis, where at least two-thirds of homes are low and middle income households, and where affordability is defined as a percentage of income.

2. RESILIENCE

Our goal is to further develop a resilient community that can address and mitigate the negative effects of sea level rise and wasteful consumption, and build on the positive opportunities inherent in food security, green building design, active transportation, and other initiatives intended to improve the quality of life in and beyond an already highly livable neighbourhood.

3. COMMUNITY

False Creek South, through the principles evident in its physical design, income diversity, age integration and governance structure, has developed a safe and socially cohesive community. Our goal is to ensure that any and all future development and   plans fully incorporate these principles.

While the CPG will follow through on its work, the Neighbourhood Association will continue its efforts to reach out to the City and other levels of government as well as to neighbours within the False Creek South community.