The District of North Vancouver is going to the public to help shape a new hub for residential and employment growth in Maplewood Village Centre.
It’s the last of the “village centres” envisioned in the official community plan, following Lower Capilano Village, Lynn Valley Centre and Seylynn.
The area consists of 35 hectares of land between Mount Seymour Parkway and Dollarton highway, east of Seymour River Place and west of Forrester Street.
Though it’s mostly single-family homes and older apartments with some light industrial land, the area is expected to hold another 1,500 housing units and 100,000 square feet of commercial space over the next 20 years.
Council has the opportunity to diverge from where it’s gone with the previous village centre plans and focus on having “an eclectic mix” of housing, technology and light industry jobs and commerce within a close space that people would be “lining up” to live in, Coun. Mathew Bond said.
The process will include detailed environmental reports “so it can be developed in such a way that its treasures are preserved for our children,” Coun. Doug MacKay-Dunn said.
The conservation area to the south is a hub for migrating birds and contains sensitive habitat, something Coun. Lisa Muri was eager to defend. “Maplewood mudflats has got to be protected at all costs and the flow of water that’s going into it is coming from these lands,” she said.
