Column: Proposed Jericho Lands project could produce homes for as many as 24,000 residents, along with new retail, office and cultural space, a community centre, public school, parks, and other public amenities
A proposal to build a dense neighbourhood on Vancouver’s west side faces opposition from residents of the surrounding area, but new polling suggests residents citywide take a more favourable view.
Next week marks the latest step in the years-long planning process for the 1,300-home Jericho Lands development, with city staff seeking council approval for the next phases of planning and technical studies.
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A neighbourhood group opposing the proposed high-density development is calling for city hall to put the brakes on the planning process for a year, to wait for those technical studies.
No final decisions are coming any time soon on the Jericho redevelopment, a joint venture of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, collectively known as the MST Partnership, and the Canada Lands Company. This is the latest step in planning that has been underway for almost five years.
But Wednesday’s council meeting represents “a very important milestone,” said Matt Shillito, Vancouver’s interim director of planning.
City staff will present council with what they call a “policy statement” or framework for the proposed redevelopment of Jericho site that takes up about a third of a square kilometre stretching from West 4th Avenue south to 8th, from Highbury Street west to Trimble Park.
Staff are seeking council’s approval to embark on the next, more detailed phase of planning — an official development plan — and to ensure “all necessary technical studies, including substantive groundwater studies for the entire site, are provided to the city” before any rezoning is considered.
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If council gives its go-ahead next week, the development plan could be completed by the end of 2024, estimates Shillito.
That plan will be influenced by planning to extend SkyTrain’s Millennium line to the University of B.C., from the under-construction Broadway subway’s terminus at Arbutus Street. The work on that extension is expected to be complete this year and will identify the locations of all stations, including one serving the Jericho Lands.
The report going to council includes results of two recent surveys on the Jericho proposal, with vastly different responses.
One survey sought public views through Vancouver’s ShapeYourCity.ca website. It found almost half of respondents dislike or really dislike the proposal, and only 38 per cent like or really like it.
A second survey, by a market research company, found more than twice as many respondents — or 65 per cent — liked or really liked the proposal, and only nine per cent disliked or really disliked it.
The differences may be explained by the different pools of respondents, Shillito said.
The ShapeYourCity survey, which found widespread opposition to the proposal, was filled out by a “self-selected” pool of respondents, Shillito said. Based on their postal codes, they largely live in the West Point Grey neighbourhood around Jericho.
The second survey was by Sentis, a company contracted to do what the city report described as representative public opinion research, with results weighted to reflect Vancouver’s entire adult population.
A group of neighbourhood residents, calling themselves the Jericho Coalition, has organized to oppose the high-density project.
Coalition spokesperson Murray Hendren said “everyone in the area is concerned” about the proposed development’s size and scale. Hendren said he believes the city and developer should pause planning work until they get the results of the hydrogeological work and transportation studies.
“Why the rush?” Hendren asked.
“This could be the worst-planned project since the Italians built the leaning tower, we just don’t know,” he said.
“Or once we have everything down, and we have a good understanding of all these things, it can be a world-class development, and I hope it is.”
Hendren pointed out that last year, the Jericho Coalition commissioned their own polling on the MST Partnership’s proposed development. That poll, conducted by Forum Research, found 72 per cent of respondents opposing the project.
Shillito, the city planner, said it’s normal on a large project for city staff to proceed with detailed planning while the developer hires professionals to complete technical work such as hydrogeological studies.
The policy statement under consideration now is “a framework, not a blueprint,” Shillito said, and future planning will respond to the results of technical studies before any final decisions are made or building permits are issued, which could be a couple of years away.
The timing could change due to a number of factors. But it’s expected that construction could begin by 2027, and the entire project, which could eventually be home to 24,000 people along with new retail, office and cultural space, a community centre, public school, parks, and other public amenities, could take 25 or 30 years to build.
dfumano@postmedia.com
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