Jericho Lands development project proceeding ... slowly
The directive went out long ago that the deadline for military personnel to move out of the sprawling Jericho Lands would be January 2017 to make way for a potentially massive First Nations-led housing development.
But the Dill family is still on the property, known as the Jericho Garrison. One of the military families still living in one of the 50 small homes on the eastern portion of the spacious 36-hectare hillside property, they say they've been told their lease extends until at least 2023.
“It's great. We've got the green
space, and everybody makes jam with the blackberries,” said Chief Petty Officer Spencer Dill, sitting outside his Defence Department home with his wife and two daughters.
Development of the Jericho Lands, which the Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation bought in 2016 from the provincial and federal governments, has been proceeding slowly. Some say the pandemic seems to have ground the city review process to a halt. (The military housing area is still 25 per cent owned by the Canada Lands Company, a federal Crown corporation.)
Nearby residents are trying to get an idea of what vision the First Nations-run TCM Development Corp. has for the property, especially since residents are disturbed Vancouver council appears to be looking favourably upon what they see as a nearby precedent: a 14-storey tower to go up just 100 metres from the Jericho Lands.
“People have talked about there being 1,000 to 25,000 residents on the Jericho Lands. But no one in any position of power has ever told me what they're thinking of in regards to numbers,” said Murray Hendren, who lives next to the Jericho Lands and co-chairs a city advisory committee on its future.
“Let's just keep it reasonable. … We don't want another Oakridge here,” said Hendren, referring to the residential towers being built along Cambie Street between 41st and 49th avenues.
The city of Vancouver is still seeking online input from the public about the “guiding principles” for the Jericho Lands, which it calls “one of the most desired locations on the planet.” The deadline for ideas is this Friday.
Hendren says both TCM and the federal corporation seem genuine about creating a “world-class development” while listening to the concerns of community members that it suit the neighbourhood.
Hendren believes COVID-19 is one reason for the slow process. Another, he believes, is TCM is focusing on its other prime properties, especially nine hectares that is further along in planning: The so-called Heather Lands near Queen Elizabeth Park.
Michael Geller, a retired architect who developed an 11-storey residential building on Fourth Avenue adjacent to the Jericho Lands, said it's difficult to say whether the Jericho Lands process is going quickly or slowly.
“But what I would say is it should go slowly because it's such a significant property.”
Decision makers, Geller said, have been wise to avoid prematurely forcing out the military families.
One of the worst planning decisions in recent decades, he said, was the forced removal of social housing tenants at Little Mountain in Vancouver, which has still not been developed.
Geller supports a mix of lowrise and highrise residential buildings for the Jericho Lands, which he thinks will eventually bring “tens of thousands” of new residents to Point Grey, which has a population of about 12,000, while Kitsilano has 43,000.
“It could be exactly the kind of place that people who are already in the neighbourhood might want to move into.”
TCM, which could not be reached for comment, has kept a low profile.
The last entry on its Twitter account is a 2017 retweet of a magazine article that ranked the chiefs of the Squamish, Tsleil Waututh and Musqueam nations collectively as the 10th most powerful people in the city since they control almost 80 hectares of city land worth at least $1 billion.
Every major housing development in Metro Vancouver draws intense scrutiny.
The West Point Grey Residents Association last year produced a sophisticated 23-page report on the Jericho Lands, which includes a survey of more than 815 nearby residents.
The survey found strong support for two- and four-storey buildings on the Jericho Lands, moderate support for six-storey apartment complexes and less than two per cent support for towers above 20 storeys.
More recently, the association has obtained 2,901 signatures on an online Change.org petition opposing a 14-storey Westbank complex at Broadway and Alma Street, which it maintains would “set a precedent for the forthcoming development in the Jericho Lands, which lie only one block away.”
While Hendren believes city staff, First Nations and federal officials want to do a good job on the Jericho Lands, he said residents fear council members will give the go-ahead to the Broadway and Alma tower, as well as for too many highrises at Jericho because they imagine there will soon be a subway line along Broadway to UBC.
There will be many, many discussions to come, in public and behind the scenes.
Hendren, who is retired, suspects there will not be a “shovel in the ground” on the Jericho Lands for up to six years.
And that the project won't be entirely “built out” for 30 years.
“I won't be around then.”