As The Shipyards shines as the City of North Vancouver’s “urban jewel,” elected officials are eyeing another central hub for a significant update.
In the municipality’s economic strategy, which was unanimously approved by council Monday evening, the Lonsdale “great street” project was identified as a top priority, with a chunk of change from the new budget seeing the long-term vision through its next phase.
According to a staff report, the great street plan will “reimagine, revitalize and repurpose Central Lonsdale Avenue as a ‘great street’ to support commercial activity, enhance esthetics, walkability, vibrancy and history.”
Also included in the city’s objective to enhance economic spaces is fostering the nearby health and life sciences cluster, referring to Lions Gate Hospital and the auxiliary services and businesses surrounding it.
The economic plan prioritizes protecting light-industrial areas as well, with some concerns expressed by councillors that increased focus on residential redevelopment could force some of those commercial operators out of North Van.
But despite the ongoing stressors and challenges faced by the business community, a positive outlook and commitment by local business to stay in the city was evident in outreach done by staff, said Siobian Smith, manager of economic development.
“The economic strategy provides a roadmap that frames our approach and priorities to guide the way in which we influence economic development and support the business community to achieve greater prosperity within our own community,” she said, introducing her report to council.
The plan sets out priorities from an economic perspective, to guide decision-making policy and services over the next five to 10 years, Smith explained. The process began with extensive data collection including two surveys, one with more than 300 licensed businesses and another with the public.
The report identified four “pathways” to support economic progress: enhancing economic spaces, making it easy to do business, creating world-class public spaces and building a resilient local economy.
When speaking about the future of Central Lonsdale, the terms “great street” and “health cluster” have been used a lot at city hall over the past few years, said Coun. Holly Back.
“Considering the fact that this week alone I’ve had I-don’t-know-how-many emails on the number of Money Marts that we have in this area, and they really do not create a great street or healthy style,” she said. “I’m not exactly sure how you’re searching out businesses.”
Smith responded that the city doesn’t pursue specific businesses, unless there has been core research that there’s value related to a certain sector.
“The focus in the economic strategy that you’re referring to, for the health and life sciences cluster, is an assessment that is underway at the moment to identify what those opportunities are,” she said.
Businesses wouldn’t necessarily be pursued by the municipality, Smith said, but would be attracted indirectly by marketing and efforts to garner investment.
Through and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we witnessed the closures of many businesses, retail and restaurants in particular, noted Coun. Don Bell.
“Do we do exit interviews or surveys or talk to them and find out why they’re leaving? Was there something we could have done different?” he asked.
Looking at statistics, there’s been significant growth in the number of businesses in the city, Smith responded. Over the past 12 months, there have been more than 1,000 new business applications and in excess of 6,500 renewed, she said.
“We may not see the exact replacement of the same types of businesses in the same locations. But we certainly do see healthy signals from the business community in terms of their desire to be here and the opportunity to establish a new business,” Smith said.
City staff do conduct interviews with outgoing operators, who typically leave because they can’t grow the business in their current location, she added.
Staff has direction to preserve employment in zones that could see more housing
As government moves toward adding more housing, especially in mixed-use areas with light industrial businesses nearby, Bell asked how those operators will be affected by increased land-value assessments for residential use. Bell flagged the industrial area south of Capilano Mall, which is itself up for redevelopment, as an example.
“This is a top-of-mind issue for every municipality in the region certainly and the direction that we have from Metro Vancouver – in terms of preserving space for employment uses, be it heavy industrial, light industrial, mixed use – is clear,” Smith said.
Later in Monday’s meeting, council approved $640,000 to fund the next phase of the Lonsdale great street project as part of the 2024 capital plan.
The new funding, which brings the project’s budget to $1.64 million to date, is to recruit external expertise for the extensive planning work required.
