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Squamish First will put ‘temporary freeze’ on development downtown, pause Garibaldi Estates densification planning

Staff report
September 20, 2022 8:44am

Squamish First will pause development to allow our community amenities and services to catch up with growth, the group announced today.

“On day one, Squamish First will introduce a motion to pause the planning process to densify the Garibaldi Estates. The neighborhood has spoken loud and clear – they want to protect the heritage of their neighborhood and the Squamish They Love. We are listening and we will act on day one,” said Mayoral candidate Mike Young.

Squamish First will take a common-sense approach to solving issues in our town. This practical approach will meaningfully impact the way we pursue development in Squamish, the group said in a press statement.

“We will also bring forward a motion to place a temporary freeze on development in Downtown Squamish until council creates a land use plan that protects our landscape views, heritage, and allows for infrastructure to catch up with our growth, such as a second downtown entrance. This temporary freeze will be similar to the one implemented in Vancouver, along the Broadway Corridor. Rezoning applications will be put on hold, except for certain kinds of developments which we will fast track, such as affordable housing and attainable purpose built rental housing” said Council Candidate Rajan Hans.

The group said over the years, the mayor and council have approved high rises in Downtown Squamish without any vision to deal with the explosive growth.

“Squamish First will introduce Smart development guidelines that will ensure that any new developments that occurs creates connected communities, is connected to active transportation, schools, childcare, attainable and equitable housing, sufficient road networks with a district wide traffic plan, no more parking variances and developers paying their fair share,” said Young.

Council Candidate Adrien Byrne said too much development has occurred, but not enough community amenities have been secured from developers to support the exponential growth.  “It’s time to prioritize investing in the infrastructure and community amenities so that Squamish can break away from being a bedroom community, to a community where families can live, work, and play,” he said.

Squamish First strongly believes that development projects should place community first, not developer interests and that there should be meaningful dialogue with communities before developers come to council with an application.  Pausing development and proceeding only with Smart Development is one of the three pillars of Squamish First’s platform. Over the coming weeks, more details on the last pillar, “Attainable Housing” will be released by Mayoral candidate Mike Young and Rajan Hans and Adrien Byrne.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lynn says

    September 20, 2022 at 9:57 am

    Just want to highlight how contradictory this whole platform is. Infill development in central places such as Downtown and Garibaldi Estates is the definition of SMART GROWTH (google it) i.e., “SMART DEVELOPMENT”. Adding more housing around central areas, even if that just means adding sensitive small density in the Estates, is exactly what creating a “smart development guideline” would conclude. Freezing development Downtown will only reduce Squamish’s apartment housing stock and as a result, increase prices, doing the exact opposite of supporting affordable housing. This platform seems to be all about BUZZ words with solutions that will only increase the problems Squamish is already facing.

    • Jill says

      September 20, 2022 at 1:10 pm

      One of the guiding principles of Smart Growth (see https://smartgrowth.org/smart-growth-principles/) is: “Preserve Open Space, Farmland, Natural Beauty and Critical Environmental Areas. Although I am still in my research stages as far as voting goes, I support the idea that proper assessment of Garibaldi Estates should be done before pushing forward with a neighbourhood scenarios that moves the VLA land from allowing gentle density and supporting food production to middle to high density development.

  2. Juanny says

    September 20, 2022 at 2:03 pm

    “Rezoning applications will be put on hold, except for certain kinds of developments which we will fast track”
    Can you clarify if this means you will be looking to fast track DL509 (Cheema Lands)?
    Seems to me like your platform looks to kill the reasons the DOS keep putting pause on Cheemas plans.

    • Peter says

      September 20, 2022 at 3:04 pm

      Rezoning applications will be put on hold, except for certain kinds of developments which we will fast track, such as affordable housing and attainable purpose built rental housing”

      Pretty clear when you read the full statement and not what you want to read LOL.

      • Chris says

        October 5, 2022 at 8:01 pm

        Im sorry but your answer to the previous question has confused me. Can you clarify which will be fast tracked? Cheema Lands?

  3. Steve says

    September 21, 2022 at 7:33 am

    I would suggest anyone thinking about voting this direction asks around town for opinions on how this mayoral candidate and his property management company are viewed and what experiences have been had with him/them.

    • Jay smith says

      September 21, 2022 at 2:35 pm

      I rather vote for mike who will actually bring change and has a clear platform unlike armand. Armand will just be another four years of the same

    • Squamish citizen says

      September 24, 2022 at 9:08 am

      literally the most incompetent property manager I’ve had the “pleasure” of working with

  4. Anne says

    October 3, 2022 at 2:04 pm

    Property manager developer and realtor. You need to take this platform with a very big dose of salt.

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