Southlands in Transition

 I have tried to take Ed Ries with a grain of salt over the years. He seems to flip flop a lot on issues and his tone often suggests that he and he only is the most suitably informed to offer opinions on how we should live and evolve in South Delta.

In his latest navel gazing exercise Ries has failed to consider how South Delta and Tsawwassen in particular are expected to move on in other generations beyond Ries’s which is, with no disrespect, at the top end of the demographic.

To a first time homebuyer or a senior wishing to downsize, affordable housing means saving a hundred thousand or so.

To a first time buyer weighing the pros and cons of what a 2500 sq,ft house with dueling lawns and a double garage at 600K vs a small foot print townhome at 500K the difference is called affordability.

The problem is that we do not have that option in Tsawwassen because there are no townhomes!

Ries thinks that his pleasantville bedroom community living is a sought after vision for all.

Guess what?....it isn’t!

Many people understand the benefits living within a small footprint and want to live their lives beyond the excesses that Ries covets so dearly.

It’s time that we had a chance to benefit from the housing choices that so many other communities have.

 Brian Lewis suggests that Tsawwassen could be the model for the entire lower mainland especially  when "residential development and local food production compete for the same acreage". 

Take a look at his article HERE. You may also want to take this opportunity to revisit Michael Ableman and what he had to say at the Charrette.

The last of five public Tsawwassen Area Plan Committee meetings was held this past Saturday. The Southlands and agriculture ‘at the edge” were the topics of discussion. The event was very well attended (eight hundred or so?)

The presentations by Kristine Taybe and Ron Plowright were very interesting indeed. Unfortunately some rude people had to butt in with unnecessary cat calls towards the end of Ron’s presentation. Perhaps they were frightened by some of the truisms as they relate to food and community?

Sean gave a good presentation as well, and reminded the attendees that the process has been a long and detailed one thus far.

Wendy Holm wrapped up the presentations with a discussion of soil capability of the lands and offered some thoughts on how the land could be used for mentoring new farmers via some sort of co-operative amongst universities which would somehow be funded by the UN or government or somebody. I didn’t really get that part.

Anyway, it was interesting to see that education seems to be a parallel thought process.

What did you think? Here is what was said in the October 31 Optimist.

A "Post Charrette Paper "has been circulated to residents and businesses in South Delta. A copy is attached below. As always, if you have any questions or comments you can use our comment and blog function on this site ( you will need to register to post a blog) or you can e-mail us directly at team@southlandsintransition.ca. If you would like to view the complete charrette book you can do that right here.

View the flash version here. (To view the newsletter click and drag the cursor on the bottom right hand corner to flip the page.)

Our latest video....You can read the SCPT disclaimer right here.

Interim Report

The Post Charrette Interim Report is attached below as a PDF file or you can view the newsletter here. The newsletter describes the two plans as they stand currently. The post charrette booklet has been published and can be viewed HERE

The two plans are obviously complicated and we are working out details in real time. A part of this excercise involves answering many internal questions. Additionally we expect the public to have many questions and we have started a FAQ page which we hope will evolve as the public asks more questions about the project.

Some background showing how we got to this stage is available by going HERE.

As always, if you have questions you can bring them forth in our interactive Blog or by simply forwarding them to us.

The following was posted on a regional land use listserve..........

"On any list of the most influential architect/planners alive today, Andrés Duany would be near the top, if not the lead name. From Seaside, Florida, to Vancouver's East Fraserlands, Duany, as one of the founders of the Congress for the New Urbanism, continues to reinvent the character of planning and redefine the codes that shape our regions.
Andres Duany
His lectures are provocative and entertaining, and his insights are essential, whether one agrees or not, to understand where urbanism is going.

SCPT at the Mall
The SCP spent some time at the Town Centre Mall on Saturday November 17 discussing the groups' progress to date and the upcoming Southlands design charrette in the spring.

Sandor Gyarmati has written an informative article in the November 7 Delta Optimist in which he highlights some of the complexities of housing and education and how we are challenged in South Delta to come up with an appropriate equation to meet the needs of the community as we grow.Thoughtful Street Design

I thought Rick Hulbert gave a fantastic presentation tonight. There were some compelling examples of housing types that could work very effectively on the Southlands.
I was particularly interested in the idea of volume being factored in to density calculations. I also enjoyed the fruit photo analogy where 6 watermellons used as much space as 275 blueberrys.Rick Hulbert Presentation Interesting stuff. Any comments from the SCPT?

Brian Lewis of the Vancouver Province had this to say about the Southlands Community Planning Team in the October 28 edition.

As a volunteer on the Southlands Planning Committee I have heard the question, "Why not farm all of the Southlands?" The Planning Team is charged with envisioning use for this land that would increase the sum of our community's happiness. Would farming the entire Southlands do that? While I cannot speak on the Planning Team's behalf, my opinion is, no. For my family at least, it is easy to be disconnected from the source of the food we eat. We drive by farms, but we don't have the opportunity to participate in our food's production or to know the people who grow our food except in rare cases, when we have had the pleasure of buying certain produce direct from farms in driving distance. How about walking distance?

Here is a brief follow-up video to the Open House on October 20. More to come.

Nice job Carla, Jon and video and agriculture committee!

The SCPT video commitee and the agriculture committee joined forces to produce this short film that investigates some ideas of how agriculture will fit in to an overall plan for the Southlands. The film was premiered at the October 20 Open House.

All around us are the signs of the harvest. Fall Harvest is an exciting time of year in British Columbia because it is generally the last time we get to see touch and eat the majority of our fruits and vegetables that are seasonal and fresh.

In South Delta land use issues are particularly sensitive. Legacy notions of farming conflict with realities of industrial commodity trading and it is most difficult to convey ideas that may suggest that agricultural practice can and may need to change in a local environment.

The agriculture committee made a presentation to the SCPT at our last meeting.

The SCPT and the collaborative video committee have been filming aspects of our dialogue for several months now. The video committee will be presenting some of this dialogue at our next open house on Saturday October 20.

In addition, we will be conducting short interviews within the commmunity to offer our citizens an opportunity to express their views on development scenarios for the Southlands. This is the first weekly interview...

A great night for an after dinner walk! The weather held on a beautiful late summers night which gave the SCPT the opportunity to see the scope of the land from a seldom seen vantage point.

Traffic Gridlock
There is an interesting article in the September 2 Vancouver Sun. The article, a first in a series describes various commute scenarios around the Lower Mainland including Tswawwassen.

Traffic is a major concern in the community as was noticed in our first Open House Questionnaire.

On Monday, August 13, three members of the collaborative video committee under the watchful eye of Jessica Hallenbeck "Eartotheground" discussed a plan of action for the next video in the series under way, this one to focus on the part agriculture can play in the development of the Southlands. It was decided to visit some existing product focused farms on Westham Island and footage was captured at the herb farm with stills covering the honey and berry farms.