Hearing on high-rises
By Natasha Jones
and Al Irwin
Times Reporters
Jul 27 2007
Residents in Langley Township will be invited to tell council whether or not they are ready to accept taller buildings.
Council recently agreed to take a proposal for mid-rise and high-rise buildings to a public hearing in the autumn.
Taller buildings are seen as a way to tame urban sprawl, stop encroachment into the Agricultural Land Reserve, and create sufficient density to make services such as public transit more workable.
Coupled with reduced cost and softening the impact on the environment, these are the cornerstones of sustainability.
On July 23, council decided that before the public hearing, it will ask sustainability expert Patrick Condon, a UBC professor, to lead a workshop on sustainability by design. Condon had offered a year ago to lead a charette on that topic.
The term ‘charette’ evolved from a pre-1900 exercise at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in France, in which architectural students were given a design problem to solve within an allotted time. When the time was up, the students would rush their drawings from the studio to the EBA in a cart called a charette, often completing their drawings as they rode in the charette. The term has evolved to refer to a creative process similar to visual brainstorming and is used by design professionals to develop solutions to a design problem within a limited time frame.
Council gave first and second reading to the High Density Development bylaw on July 9.
According to a staff report, the proposed legislation reflects council’s direction to staff to limit high density development to the Willowbrook Regional Town Centre and areas of the 200 Street corridor.
The amending bylaw, which will likely go to a public hearing in October, introduces criteria for evaluating proposals for high -rises. It does not specify particular properties.
These areas include the 200 Street/Highway One interchange, the Carvolth Business Park south of the freeway; within Willowbrook; along 200 Street from Willowbrook to the freeway interchange; and adjacent to the future Willoughby Events and Recreation Centre and Mountain Secondary School near 80 Avenue and 202 Street.
According to the report, consideration of mid-rise development (five to 12 storeys) should be considered on selected sites in conjunction with the high-rise locational policies.
Among the OCP changes proposed, high-rises (12 storeys or higher) would be considered within 250 metres of key arterial intersections, and within 400 metres or walking distance of transit routes.
Council made a number of amendments to the proposed bylaw, including strengthening a “green” requirement. The proposed bylaw would require that sustainable technologies, including geothermal heating, water recycling and green roofs, be pursued.
While Councillor Bob Long wondered if this would be practical in mid-rise buildings, Mayor Kurt Alberts indicated that the amending bylaw would not necessarily compel the use of such technologies if the developer demonstrated they had been considered, but found to be not viable.
The amending bylaw passed first and second reading with Councillor Jordan Bateman opposed.
Bateman is a staunch opponent of high-rises, and it was his motion to invite Condon to lead a charette.
The Schacter Team - Langley Real Estate