It was more William Shatner spoken-word than Bob Dylan acoustic-and-harmonica but West Vancouver Mayor Michael Smith still puts on a decent unplugged show.
The West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce dusted off the crowd-pleasing Mayor Mike Unplugged event for a one-night-only show before an intimate audience at the West Vancouver Yacht Club Wednesday evening.
Smith typically takes the event as an opportunity to press council’s interests with the business community. Top of the set-list this year was the Ambleside Waterfront Concept Plan.
Some of the key aspects of that plan: Converting Navvy Jack House to a nature centre and restoring the Lawson Creek estuary, an enhanced Hollyburn Sailing Club with more boat slips and a seaside bistro, replacing the Silk Purse and Music Box galleries with a new permanent home for the arts at an expanded Ferry Building, connections for the Spirit Trail and Ambleside business area, more public art and festival space as well as enhancements to the Ambleside and John Lawson piers to allow short-term boat moorage and water taxi service.
Planning to revitalize the waterfront had been in the works since the 1970s, Smith said, but little action had been taken.
“I’m suggesting, after 40 years, it might be time for us to finally approve a plan and execute it because our waterfront should be more than it is,” he said.
Smith noted a destination marketing study commissioned by the district found that West Vancouver ranks the lowest in the Metro Vancouver region in diversity of restaurants, night life, arts and entertainment.
Making the waterfront an at-home destination for West Vancouver residents is going to be even more critical as the region and district continue to grow, Smith said. Metro Vancouver’s regional growth strategy is foreseeing another million residents by 2040.
“The good news for us is we have, by far, the lowest growth rate of any of the municipalities. Nobody else is even in second place,” he said. “Nevertheless, we are going to take pressure from these new arrivals so the community has got to change. I think our job is to make sure it changes well.”
That growth, Smith specified, is destined for places like Ambleside, Horseshoe Bay, Park Royal and the still-in-concept Cypress Village – where residents can get to shopping, services and transit without a car. Because, Smith said, “The traffic is here to stay.”
But, Smith warned, the Ambleside plans are bound to face opposition from people who fear change, which could threaten to derail any revitalization projects.
“We hear all the time from a small group of, I call them, naysayers. That might be a bit hard but nevertheless, they make a lot of comments and they basically are against everything. They get a lot of traction because that’s who we hear from,” he said. “We need the chamber and businesses community to step up and represent your customers.”
When plans for a new gallery at the Ferry Building came up in 2014, council received blow-back from residents before they had even seen what the plans contained, Smith said. The building can be updated in keeping with its heritage nature, he added
“The paint is peeling off the walls. The place is full of dry rot and the building is basically falling down. It’s got no public washrooms and yet, we can have 500 people there at a function,” he said. “Yes, it’s a heritage building but nevertheless, it’s a building that’s inadequate for its purposes.”
More than giving the West Vancouver the waterfront it deserves, the plans would give a badly needed boost to business in the surrounding neighbourhoods. He pointed to the concept of short-term boat moorage as an example.
“The first thing you do when you get off your boat . . . you look for place to spend your money,” he said. “West Vancouver is the only waterfront community on the West Coast of North America that you can’t go to by boat and tie your boat up. What kind of reputation do we have? This is embarrassing.”
West Van council is expecting an update from staff on the waterfront plan next month.
