A plan for Hammond will have to wait awhile until the fall and a few other things are scratched off the district’s to-do list.
First, the District of Maple Ridge has to do an inventory of the land that could be used for industrial or commercial purposes. That would be crucial as the district plans its future and figures out where all the jobs and businesses will go.
It also has to work on its affordable housing strategy and changing its regional context statement.
Then there’s the small matter of working out a plan for the long-suffering Albion flats, once the Agricultural Land Commission gives its decision on what remains in and what’s excluded from the farmland reserve.
The tasks were listed in a staff report Monday that suggested the Hammond area be considered in the fall during the business planning meetings. Council accepted that advice.
But the old Hammond area is on councillors’ minds, regardless.
Coun. Cheryl Ashlie says the area could supply affordable housing so the 19-to-28-year-old segment of the population have places to live, if they’re able to find jobs here.
Coun. Al Hogarth wondered where all the jobs would be located if Maple Ridge does its part under Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy and develops its share of the jobs.
He also wondered if Maple Ridge could reach its residential capacity within the current urban boundary. Hammond has a “tremendous potential” and is “a diamond in the rough,” he said.
Hammond was founded in 1883 as Port Hammond Junction, after the brothers John and William Hammond, who arrived from England in 1862, settled in the area.
Under current policy, an area plan is only done if the area is affected by a change in district policy, or is experiencing demographic or transportation changes, including those involving the student population.
Coun. Bob Masse however pointed out if council keeps accepting applications for more housing projects in the Hammond area, it won’t need an area plan. He wanted to delay further projects until an area plan is in place.
Masse and Coun. Corisa Bell at previous meeting wanted to delay for two weeks an application for a 36-unit apartment block at 11312 – 206th St. until there was more information about an area plan.
Some Hammond residents, south of the Lougheed Highway and west of 207th Street, are concerned about the future of the area and they don’t know whether to renovate their homes or move, Bell said.
If an area plan is in place, people can then decide whether they want to move there, rather than have density increase in areas that they thought were for single family homes, she added.
Mayor Ernie Daykin quoted a long-serving politician and said people hate only two things, sprawl and high-density housing.
“They don’t want us to go to into the hinterland and they want brand new single-family homes,” Daykin said.
According to a staff report, an area plan usually takes about two years to complete and costs about $100,000.
Maple Ridge currently has three area plans, the Albion area plan (1994), the Silver Valley area plan (2001) and the town centre area plan (2008).