Sunshine Coast Fixed Link

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

If developing new housing options is the intent wouldn't it make more sense to transfer some ALR land to the sunshine coast and build on the re-designated ALR land in the valley?

Keeps the ALR land whole and is much easier to serve via transit and existing infrastructure than this silly plan.

No, that ruins the point of the ALR- to protect agricultural land. Also, there are better uses to reserve that land for than residential sprawl.

...It's also is a good place for the ultra-rich to put their mega-mansions, but don't mention that to anyone


The Serpentine R. Valley is a pain to build on, and South Delta/East-Central Richmond is prime industrial Real Estate.



Plus, there is still actually quite a bit of extra non-ALR land in the uplands of Maple Ridge and Mission that have yet to be opened up (or have nay proposed development) due to lack of effective freeway access. [Ruskin, Stave Lake, etc.]


Pretty much everything in between the ALR and parkland in East Maple Ridge is empty suburbs. And even the ALR there has less than a 75% usage rate. It's basically just forest.


It's possible to open it up, (my 'mater plan' had a 'Golden Ears Bypass' running on the Golden Ears Way) but it would almost certainly mean destroying quite a bit of single-family homes, dividing Maple Ridge into 2 pieces, and has a good chance of ending the same way as the NFPR due to opposition.


Without freeway access, that land is going to remain locked up for good, because driving that far out on current roads is a joke, and so is transit that far out, in undeveloped land (it also gets steep as you get towards Alouette and Stave Lake).



Abbostford also has more land, but it's basically still limited to the land on Sumas Mountain, which would likely be filled up in 20-30 years. Even that's halved because of steep slopes on Sumas Mountain.

Vedder Mountain is probably too steep, except on its lowest slopes, which are also filling up. Even this is a 1h, 30 min commute by car.

Squamish seems to have a decent amount of Greenfield land- assuming Cheakamus 11 is open for development.