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SpongeG
Jul 8, 2007, 10:04 PM
Region must brace for a million more people

There will be a million more people living in the Lower Mainland by 2031 -- and the Greater Vancouver Regional District wants to be prepared for those people.

But the GVRD's land use and transportation committee, which discussed the prospect Friday, wants changes made to the plan being made for the region's future.

The committee wants the plan to be based on principles like doing what's required to ensure climate stability, to ensure there is a secure supply of locally-grown food and to reduce our ecological footprint.

It also wants the GVRD to have the ability to amend the plan and to enforce it -- elements not now part of the provincially-approved Livable Region Strategic Plan under which the GVRD operates.

As a result, the report -- Planning for a Sustainable Future -- was sent back to staff to make those changes.

Public forums on the report will be held in September. A draft plan will be issued in October for further public input.

Committee chairman Derek Corrigan said the changes being sought simply reflect the public's present values.

"The Livable Region was our main plan -- environmental protection, the green zone," said Corrigan, who is mayor of Burnaby.

"It's being phrased differently now as people are bringing up climate stability, the ability to be self-sufficient in food," he said.

"There's a different spin on the values underlying the plan."

One of those values could include developing an industrial land reserve similar to the Agricultural Land Reserve instituted to protect farming.

- TransLink's ambitious expansion plan for 2008 needs ratification from the GVRD, and on Friday the land-use committee recommended that ratification -- with conditions.

Among the conditions were a heightened emphasis on transportation demand measures -- including road pricing and tolls. The committee also wanted a long-term, transportation-related strategy for funding TransLink.

"We're saying, 'Look, there's no sustainable financing plan in place ,'" said Corrigan. "That concerns us."

The TransLink plan will still be debated and voted on by the full GVRD.

- There could be some new GVRD members in the not too distant future.

The district acts as the council for the University of B.C. as part of Electoral Area A, but negotiations are under way between UBC and the GVRD about the future governance of the campus and its growing population.

[B]One option would be for UBC to become a municipality.

Depending on the outcome of the Tsawwassen First Nation treaty vote, the community could also become a part of the GVRD and have a director on the board.

fluba@png.canwest.com




http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=be208207-0686-4ef4-98f0-7354b0912068

deasine
Jul 9, 2007, 4:12 AM
The region is capable with more than that. Just make sure the municipalities, TransLink, and GVRD PLAN properly. I would say get some people living in Surrey, to fill up all that empty and negative space.

squeezied
Jul 9, 2007, 5:55 AM
wat are the benifits of ubc becoming its own municipality?