The district has begun delivering on its promise to make planning the Oceanfront Lands a community-led process. On Saturday afternoon (June 28) a steady stream of people flocked to a tent alongside the Squamish Farmer's Market to share their hopes for the site."This is fantastic. This is just what Squamish needs: an open forum," said local resident Heather Gordon. The event, led by consultants HB Lanarc, had community members running the show, creating their own land use designations for the area and describing in great detail, how they would like to see the Brownfield site developed. Gordon said she would like to see natural space on the site to draw people to the water."I don't want to see condos. If there is housing it should be affordable."Some who attended, such as Louise Orr, said housing would be acceptable as long as it was set far enough back from the water to give beachgoers some separation.Realistically, some form of housing would be needed to finance the project, said Squamish Oceanfront Development Corporation (SODC) chair John Turner. "It has to be economically viable as well as socially and environmentally sustainable," he said. However, he noted that commercial units could also play an important role in covering the costs of the project. The funding strategy will be inspired by community desires, he said."The point that we're stressing is we haven't got any plan in our back pocket."The area should be made accessible, Orr said. "I'm a senior, so I'm thinking about washrooms and change rooms." Squamish Environmental Conservation Society member John Buchanan said he was disappointed to find the presentation area did not address how the site was being remediated. He put up a map, indicating that sensitive dredging protocols should be followed around the site to ensure contaminated soil is not disturbed."This project's being built on a contaminated site. There's no information here on that." Planning director Cameron Chalmers said there would be many more opportunities for the public to give input on the planning process. The feedback will soon be posted online at www.createtheoceanfront.ca.
