Sawmill site will become Vancouver neighborhood

DPZ plan provides a starting point for 126-acre community along the Fraser River. East Fraserlands, one of the largest potential development sites left in Vancouver, British Columbia, is on its way to becoming a new urban neighborhood containing a “town center” and 4,500 to 5,000 housing units, some of them in 14-story towers. Two jointly-owned development companies, WesGroup Income Properties and Park-Lane Homes, have acquired 126 acres previously occupied by a sawmill and have begun cleaning up pollution, including creosote, a tar-like preservative once used to coat telephone poles. This spring Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. conducted a week-long charrette that generated five differing concepts of how the property, along the Fraser River at the city’s southeastern edge, could become a mixed-use neighborhood. “We’re fine-tuning all five plans with the intent of going out to the public with the pros and cons of all five,” WesGroup President Gino Nonni was later quoted as saying in the Vancouver Sun. By the summer of 2006 the developers hope the final decision will be made, after receiving further input from neighbors, officials, and others. When completed in 15 to 20 years, East Fraserlands would be home to about 10,000 people. Housing is expected to range from detached dwellings to high-rise condominiums. At one point, there had been talk of 28-story residential towers, but after neighbors voiced concern, the maximum height was reduced to 14 stories. All five plans include a town center, a concept Nonni said the developers are “extremely excited about.” A riverfront walkway, a marina, a school, and a soccer field may also be part of the project. ecological issues Architect Patrick Pinnell, who participated in the charrette, was impressed by the care given to ecological issues. Riparian corridors will be preserved. Extensive discussion focused on the possibility of saving a beaver habitat. It was concluded, however, that the area available was not large enough to support a continuing beaver population. Any beavers found in the area will be relocated. Norm Shearing, ParkLane’s vice president of development, said the project would help rehabilitate the river and increase salmon stocks. It is also expected to reduce emissions by giving people a variety of modes of transportation. Eventually one of Vancouver’s rapid transit lines may come to the neighborhood. Larry Beasley, director of current planning for the city, said development of a commercial main street offering services such as grocery and drugstores should be done without drawing so many outsiders that traffic becomes a problem. The land became available when Weyer-haueser’s Canadian White Pine Mill was dismantled three years ago. u