The Oceanfront talks started anew this week, and all sectors of the community - from residents to property owners to developers - may soon get a chance to air thoughts.
"We had a false start a few months ago," said Mayor Ian Sutherland at the District of Squamish council strategy meeting Tuesday (Feb. 27).
"We should treat today as day one of the new process, not day 400 of the old process," he added to the applause of a city hall gallery packed with residents, municipal staff and Squamish Oceanfront Development Corporation (SODC) board members.
Bitterness remained in the community after a proposed private/public joint venture failed in October when development partner Qualex walked away from a council-endorsed Memorandum of Understanding, citing inadequate consensus within the community and council.
But after two hours of discussions with widely lauded planning gurus Larry Beasley and Jim Lowden - who volunteered their time following a council invitation - the crowd and council showed renewed enthusiasm for the 100 acres of municipal Oceanfront land and waterlots at the former Nexen site.
"I was looking forward to this dialogue," said Coun. Corinne Lonsdale, "but I never dreamed I'd get as much out of it as I have."
Lowden has numerous years experience in public and private planning and is currently on the Vancouver Parks board and the director of Vancouver's Stanley District.
Beasley - Vancouver's recently retired director of planning - has received numerous awards and accolades throughout his career, including the Order of Canada for lifetime achievement in his field and recognition from the United Nations as one of "the world's 100 best planning practices."
Beasley began the discussion with disclaimers: his bias favours the public sector, he doesn't work for anyone in Squamish, and he's done little research on the Oceanfront issue.
Municipalities can approach public land development in numerous ways, said Beasley, but the number one principle is to "involve the public every step of the way." Avoid in-camera decisions, he said, even difficult ones.
"If the community consensus is not there, newly elected officials will tear it apart," he said.
The municipality must also involve the Oceanfront's neighbouring developers to work out a consistent vision for the downtown. "If you stay within your borders, that would be very bad,"said Beasley.
Consensus among council is also imperative, said Lowden, and the way to achieve that is to maintain public engagement as "the foundation of all" and to have "consistency both in belief and over time" of the property's social and economic value.
Coun. Patricia Heintzman expressed gratitude for the advice.
"I feel like all the councillors should be lying on a couch talking about our bad dreams," she laughed.
Once council and resident agree on a direction for the land, the municipality should begin a dialogue with developers throughout the province to dissuade rampant rumours, said Beasley.
"There's a lot of gossip around the province of what went on here and what's going on here."
Following a question by Coun. Greg Gardner, Beasley suggested that the district establish roles for the various parties involved in the project, from municipal planners to politicians to SODC board.
Planning staff should be in charge of the master-planning process, he said, that way the public will see a government agent leading the effort and reporting directly to council.
But he also recognized that, although the planning staff is very competent, they are severely overworked.
"You'll need a special expertise to augment that team."
The SODC should take charge of the economic aspect of the project, said Beasley.
"A Crown corporation is a very effective arrangement for consummating a business deal," he said. "I'm not sure it's the best vehicle through which to do all the planning."
SODC chair Larry Murray the board needed a "clear understanding of starting points" to move forward.
Coun. Jeff McKenzie asked that the consultants comment on concerns over industrial land bank depletion.
While in Vancouver, said Beasley, his planning team did a study of remaining industrial land and made well thought-out decisions on which parcels should remain and which should be rezoned.
Lowden said industrial land can be just as valuable as housing or shopping.
"What industrial people are telling you when decamping is it's not working anymore. That can give you an opportunity," said Lowden.Heintzman asked that the planning consultants explain density to those who shun the concept as merely "overcrowding."
"The reasons people hate density is most of it is terrible," said Beasley, but, he added, it need not be. A population won't know density is part of the design if it's done well.
"Not all density is tall," said Beasley, referring to the development of residential towers. "I don't think, here in Squamish, you should move in that direction for your city. I don't think you need to. I don't think you want to."
But both planners warned against getting into urban design before the "dreaming" process was complete.
"Don't get into the numbers game," said Lowden.
Sutherland said the dialogue was even more enlightening than he had hoped before asking whether the experts could shed some light on the cost and time council could expect the process to take. Beasley said he didn't want to guess, but prudence can be a cost-saving measure over the long run.
"If you want to move faster, it's going to cost you more. If you want to move slower, it'll cost you less."
