Is Squamish on its way to be renamed Surreyish?
I came to Squamish 50 years ago, to a sleepy little town with a pioneer spirit and ample untouched wilderness. I found my rural, residential piece of property, for years shunned by developers and with a municipality not interested to provide infrastructure to this area, but the rural/residential setting suited me just fine as I came from a very populated country and valued the low density space and still having neighbours in some distance, but not a stone’s throw away.
We all look for the perfect place, and more people are discovering low density living is more enjoyable than high rise living. Squamish entered the years of discovery with the Whistler Olympics. Maybe now there is the thirst for a quick dollar awaiting the LNG hassle and potential profit-taking by developers again. There could be great and irrevocable pitfalls to come. It seems that developers don't care, as the mega-buck investment by big business attracts others to tag on.
For many years, with many people having input in a smart growth process, Squamish promoted the creation of a blueprint for future generations and so not to develop Squamish in a way that the land mass is irrevocably destroyed for a future unforeseen purpose. Many councils in the past formulated a vision for Squamish smart growth called the OCP (Official Community Plan). It seems that for the last few councils, the OCP started to become a thorn in their eye, that the OCP was focusing on the preservation of green spaces and asking to have housing taking place not in the most desirable place for developers, who are interested to jam as many people into a small flat piece of land in the valley bottom to make the biggest profit. Slowly this trend is starting to erode the original intent of the OCP, where the emphasis was on green belts and wildlife corridors through the valley being preserved with low density rural land under a rural/residential zoning, as when I bought into my place.
The low density, two-acre designation of rural land allows one to keep horses and to have a hobby farm with home enterprises; many dog kennels and even a nice indoor riding rink is setting up shop. Clearly, this land only could be subdivided from the typical two-acre properties into only two one-acre parcels, not multiple-unit housing developments.
The Finch, Robin, Raven area, ideally located besides the business park as a pocket of tranquility, is even very suitable as low density potential future employment land, not infill urban sprawl area destroying a very important habitat for beekeepers, bears, deer, ducks, geese and other wildlife passing through. It is a badly needed green space and makes Squamish a colourful and diverse place to live and work. It is the area for the growing Squamish Valley Music Festival and other commercial, recreational or tourist ventures, with potential expansion of sports fields and equestrian and other trails.
The area is again under attack as a new rezoning for a high density subdivision was approaching the third reading at district council. Should this rezoning be allowed? This would be opening the door for others using the proposed blueprint of the 8 houses per two-acre concept plus another new development in what was an old riverbed of the Mamquam River at one time. The OCP, when created, favoured leaving this land as much as possible untouched. Is it not time to reassess high-density land developments for Squamish, especially in low-lying valley land and also start thinking that maybe only developers who are prepared to contribute to permanent job creation in Squamish should be considered?
Let’s have no more urban sprawl infill of sensitive green space areas. The March 3 council meeting, which starts at 6 p.m., is the perfect place to express your concerns.
Hans Schaer
Squamish
