West Vancouver seeks advice on Cypress Village
Consultants hired to assess development options for Cypress Village project
The vision is a mountainside village in West Vancouver, with retail shops and restaurants sitting above the Upper Levels highway near the first switchback on Cypress Bowl Road as it winds its way up to the ski slopes.
It would be something like a smaller Whistler, only known as Cypress Village.
The concept has been around for a long time, but now the District of West Vancouver is seeking consultants to help with one of the first stages of making it a reality.
The district is looking for someone to figure out the transferring of building rights from one chunk of land to another, as well as assessing transportation options, amenities, schools and community services, according to a July 2017 staff report to council about a “preconditions stage.”
Mainly, the job is “looking at land values to determine the zoning and finding a balance of residential units that connects with green space,” says Donna Powers, a spokesperson for the district.
British Pacific Properties has owned this land since 1931 when, backed by the Guinness family of beer fame, it purchased 4,000 acres of land in West Vancouver, from the Capilano River to Horseshoe Bay.
It was a deal for the ages at just $75,000 for the land, plus a $1-million contribution for building infrastructure. The company would go on to build the Lions Gate Bridge in 1938 and Park Royal Shopping Centre in 1950. For many years, it and other developers built singlefamily homes mainly on the eastern side in what became known as the British Properties. Now it is looking at developing another part of this giant swath, which is further west and known as the Upper Lands. Part of this is Cypress Village, which will be approximately 350 acres in size.
One of the main recommendations from a citizens’ group was to keep development in the Upper Lands below the 1,200-foot elevation line, or east of Eagle Creek, for ecological protection reasons, and also to concentrate any residential condos and townhomes near Cypress Village to contain sprawl.
It will be up to the consultants West Vancouver hires to calculate the mix of housing units British Pacific Properties will be allowed to build at Cypress Village in a way that allows for the land above the 1,200-foot elevation line, or west of Eagle Creek, to be left green.
The main question to answer: Will it be a number of housing units that can come just from giving British Pacific Properties a transfer of building rights from the land it agrees to leave undeveloped, or will it require more units and floor space than what is permitted under the community plan?