Suburban Updates

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Zassk

It's not so out of the way. Remember that it will be directly served by the SFPR. It'll be 10 minutes away from the Patullo Bridge on the weekend. 15 minutes away from South Surrey. And so on.

If you are going to use your car anyway, would you rather drive into the rat's nest of Metrotown, or along the new highway to this mall?

The only thing similar this side of Langley that I can think of is Queensborough Landing, but that's a pale shadow of what is being proposed here.

This is for all those people who won't/can't use the malls that are along the SkyTrain lines. All of those malls suck to drive to... this won't suck to drive to.

Nobody from North of the Fraser will bother to drive out to this location to shop. Its in the furthest southwest location in Metro - dumb location for a mall. Add to that having to compete with ferry traffic and a very small local population base to sustain it (Tsawassen). It has failure written all over it.

[Zassk]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Nobody from North of the Fraser will bother to drive out to this location to shop. Its in the furthest southwest location in Metro - dumb location for a mall. Add to that having to compete with ferry traffic and a very small local population base to sustain it (Tsawassen). It has failure written all over it.

I don't think this is targeted at North of Fraser people at all.

Almost half of the region's population is on the "right" side of the river for this mall. For virtually all of them, this is easier to access than Metrotown or Lougheed Mall.

It may be at a southwest location, but it is also at the end of a brand new highway that connects the SoF population very well. Together, there will be three highways connecting together to give them outstanding travel to this part of the region.

I think you are underestimating the effect that SFPR will have on enabling east-west shopping trips south of the Fraser.

[Metro-One]

ugh, I was hoping the SFPR wasn't going to be abused this way... I really was hoping it would not become clogged up with useless shopping trips to a horribly designed mall in the extreme fringe of our metro area on top of some of our best farmland.

The SFPR is a great new piece of infrastructure, but i would really like to keep it geared towards port traffic and those trying to access the ferries and other such facilities.

Hence why I still wish they built the SFPR as a FULL FREEWAY, but also a TOLLED ROUTE for NON-COMMERCIAL VEHICLES.

[SpongeG]

these kind of malls are always built in the sticks - seattle's is like 45 mins north of the city, portland's is like 45 minutes south of the city, the ones in san francisco area are a good 45 minutes from the city itself and people drive out to them for the bargoons - its not like a usual trip but more of a special occasion to go i think

[NewWester]

In not horrible mall news: Salient's Trapp block mixed use tower in downtown New West is going before council again, I think for the last time become they get full approval. Hopefully this means this project is about to start in earnest.

Reminder what I'm talking about: http://www.newwestcity.ca/database/r...%20Package.pdf

[dreambrother808]

The fact that the Tsawassen nation is doing something somewhat shady with the small pittance of land they were given really seems like a drop in the bucket to me after all the overtly shady and selfish things that colonization brought with it. Is it a double-standard by current measures? Yes. Let them make some money and have their small island of unenlightened land use.

I realize that we shouldn't have to continually pay for the past... Blah, blah, blah. But is this really so horrible? Shouldn't First Nations have some small right to not do absolutely everything by our rules with land that was originally theirs anyways?

[Zassk]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

Shouldn't First Nations have some small right to not do absolutely everything by our rules with land that was originally theirs anyways?

First Nations or not First Nations, the development doesn't seem to be against any rules anyway.... it's not ALR land is it? It's just offending some people, that's all.

[Metro-One]

Some areas were ALR land that recently transferred to them. That is what annoys me. And just because it is native doesn't mean I have to like it, and I am sorry, but the history of colonization does not give a free pass to piss poor development practices today, for anyone.

[logan5]

We can't tell Washington State what is acceptable development in Point Roberts or Blaine. How can we dictate to the First Nation?

[Metro-One]

Sad isn't it? nations within nations always fail, only when all people are treated equally under the law, will things truly be resolved.

Fertile, limited farmland being gobbled up for crap like this is always gets my back up, trust me, for they are trying to pull the same crap in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows for years now will ALR alongside Lougheed and the Albion Flats.

[Zassk]

We can't go back and choose a different, non-agricultural location for the city. It's too late to change that. The ALR is going to have to be a little bit flexible in this small corner of the province as long as the city needs/wants to grow. I suspect the Tsawwassen band is just a convenient scapegoat in this case.

[Echowinds]

It may be just me, and it's probably politically incorrect, but I don't see how this generation of First Nations have any more right to claims of land "originally theirs", considering the many generations that have passed since overt colonization. Some status band members do in fact are mostly Caucasians, tracing their First Nation heritage to perhaps a fully native great-grandmother. How far back do you go, and why do some current "First Nations" which pretty much shares comparable cultural values with many other Canadians continue to have an individually different status that can be utilized for economic advantages? Nearly every Canadian is now a person born on the territory that makes-up Canada, or legal immigrants much of whom contributed significantly to the well being of the national community. So, why is it because someone is born to a certain ethnic group gets, both for good and bad, a rather different set of legal privileges?

In fact, the whole concept of private land ownership isn't a First Nations concept to begin with, so I have a hard time wrapping my head around these land claims. There are much social injustice to First Nations, but I don't feel letting them do harmful developments is particularly useful in rectifying that.

I know it's not that simple, but two wrongs don't make a right. Just because colonizers trashed the place badly in the past doesn't mean that First Nations should also trash the place for a quick profit. It's not that the project is going to ruin the Lower Mainland, but rather the whole principle behind it (First Nation allowed to do things other Canadians can't) urks a lot of people. I mean, you can't realistically expect say, Ukrainian-Canadian community in the prairies demanding to self-govern themselves because they've been there for an arbitrarily long time, right?

Ok, that was a bit off-tangent. As far as this mall goes, I do believe it does somewhat benefit Tsawwassan economically. It does contribute to local job creation in that area, although the bulk of it will be clearly retail. However, I don't think it'll do a whole lot of good for the urban development of the town in the long run.

[SpongeG]

getting status isn't that easy, you cannot go back and say you are 1/8th and get status at all

anyway from what i recall of the land its on it wasn't crop growing land thats being developed

[officedweller]

Coquitlam Public Library Town Centre branch renders - in the podium of a condo tower.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...9202024&type=3

[officedweller]

Pics of "Paloma 2" (Richmond close to Brighouse Station) here.
Better than the renders suggested.

http://www.integra-arch.com/portfoli...p?id=9&proj=62

Proposed project on Buswell? Or is it out of date (render looks old school)?

http://www.integra-arch.com/portfoli...p?id=9&proj=99

[dleung]

Originally Posted by logan5

We can't tell Washington State what is acceptable development in Point Roberts or Blaine. How can we dictate to the First Nation?

There's still an international border to cross and duties to be paid, among other disincentives. Are you suggesting imposing the same boundary on the First Nations land to prevent their regressive power centre from undermining our transit system, putting people back in their cars,, and reducing viability of properly-designed local retail?

[quobobo]

Originally Posted by dleung

There's still an international border to cross and duties to be paid, among other disincentives. Are you suggesting imposing the same boundary on the First Nations land to prevent their regressive power centre from undermining our transit system, putting people back in their cars,, and reducing viability of properly-designed local retail?

The construction of one mall way out in the sticks wouldn't even come close to being on a list of the top 100 land use rules and decisions negatively impacting transit use and the urban environment in the Lower Mainland.

I'd rather fix issues closer to home before wading into a potential constitutional battle over one development in the middle of nowhere...

Originally Posted by NewWester

In not horrible mall news: Salient's Trapp block mixed use tower in downtown New West is going before council again, I think for the last time become they get full approval. Hopefully this means this project is about to start in earnest.

That's awesome. New West is looking way better than the other suburbs, as usual.

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by dleung

There's still an international border to cross and duties to be paid, among other disincentives. Are you suggesting imposing the same boundary on the First Nations land to prevent their regressive power centre from undermining our transit system, putting people back in their cars,, and reducing viability of properly-designed local retail?

At the end of the day as far as I know the band has settled any future land claims. The mall is temporary, it will be built, it will be used, and one day it will be redeveloped again. The end of land claims from this band is a permanent thing.

I may not be a fan of the double standards and catering to the "native" segment of our population, but at the end of the day there needs to be some sort of compromise and ending to the demands of these bands. It is a incredible drag on this province having these land claims and uncertainty. Every land claim that is settled is a step forward, maybe one day all of them will be settled once and for all.

[VanK]

Only new building on Buswell = NOVA (Sunshine Holdings)...

[brown_supahero]

Does anybody know what will be constructed in Richmond, south of the BCIT aerospace building?