Janice MacLean has more than 20 years of marketing and communications experience, but when it comes to engaging community members with the future of the Oceanfront lands, it is her interest in gemology that lights the way.
The new managing director of Squamish Oceanfront Development Corporation (SODC) is fresh off of a three-year stay to the Cayman Islands where she worked as a diamond expert. She said she could recognize diamonds in the rough that need a human touch to shine. Her latest conquest: the Nexen beach site.
"The more people we involve, the more brilliant it will be," she said in her the SODC office, energetically cupping her hands around an invisible Oceanfront diamond.
When plans to revive the Oceanfront lands fell through last year, MacLean said the fatal flaw was a lack of interplay between the public and the board.
"I think the last one might have happened too much too soon," she said, noting people in Squamish often like to take two steps forward and one step back over development. This time around, she said a vision for the land would be the product of community input.MacLean is an old hand at pulling public feedback into developments. In the mid-80s she helped turn a strip mall in Burnaby into the Burnaby Town Centre. It was her idea to include family services to ensure a benefit rather than a shadow over nearby communities.
Though her marketing work has usually been in Vancouver, MacLean has made the commute from Squamish for the past 15 years. She said the town has been an ideal place to raise her three sons, one of whom now has to children of his own in Squamish. Having grown up in Victoria, she said it has always been important for her to live in a waterfront community. This new position allows her to make that feature more accessible.
"It's an opportunity to give back to the community with my expertise and professional background."
She also brings fresh eyes to the project, having been down south while the Qualex development was under consideration. She said she welcomes the new leadership of the district who is now heading the planning process, adding they have superior knowledge of the residents' needs.
MacLean's main priority is making sure there are no surprises when the next plan is unveiled. By keeping an open dialogue with the Peninsula Landowners Collaborative, Squamish Nation and Squamish Terminals, she said could be sure the Oceanfront development serves as an asset to its neighbours.A new website being unveiled at the end of the month will help her understand and meet the needs of residents. The website lets people become SODC members so they receive regular updates on the group's activities.
"We need two-way communication. We've got it with our neighbours, now we need it with our community," she said.
MacLean will see if this new approach fares better with the public in just a few months, when residents weigh in on Oceanfront progress.SODC board chair John Turner said the group is mapping out transportation options for the lands with public meetings around the corner.
"In early 2008 there will be public consultation and information meetings. We will be having a series of those. We'll be looking at the key principles that we're going with. We start with the guiding principles in the [OCP]."
Turner said MacLean was picked for the position largely because of her strengths in managing contracts and consulting with stakeholders.Turner showed great confidence in the SODC's progress, saying, "It's going extremely well."
