A Lynn Valley resident says she's determined to voice her concerns over the looming densification of her neighbourhood directly to District of North Vancouver Mayor Richard Walton - but exactly where and how that meeting will take place has been the subject of some confusion.
Lynn Valley is one four district sites slated to take on a high-density mix of shops and affordable housing meant to reel young people back to the municipality.
Walton has agreed to host a meeting at district hall, but retired teacher Joan Birchall is adamant the conference be an informal gathering at the library, more in keeping with the monthly Meet the Mayor sessions.
After being told the Meet the Mayor powwows were suspended for the summer, Birchall was eventually offered the opportunity to discuss matters with Walton today, but bristled when she was told the assembly would be limited to six district residents.
"I said, 'Wait now. Is that the way it's run at the library? Is there somebody standing at the door saying: "Are you going to visit the mayor? Because he's already had six people,'" she said.
Communication with Birchall has had its challenges, according to Walton's executive assistant Louise Horton.
"It's not a Meet the Mayor and I've told her that right from the beginning," Horton said, discussing the decision to limit the meeting to six people. "We're not going to hold a town hall meeting."
Birchall has also objected to requests from district hall asking for the names of those attending and their questions ahead of time.
Horton said those are standard requests designed to streamline the meeting.
"He's not head of planning, he doesn't know every single answer," Horton said of Walton. "The district is bending over backwards to try to have public engagement and public consultation."
For Birchall, the meeting is an important step in the campaign to preserve Lynn Valley.
"We are not uncivilized, we are not going to go in there swearing and shouting and screaming and carrying signs and molesting the mayor. We just want to say what we think and maybe offer a solution or two," she said.
The decision on densification should be the subject of an election-time referendum, according to Birchall.
The move to concentrate roughly a quarter of the district's population growth in Lynn Valley over the next 20 years has already been settled in the official community plan, according to Coun. Roger Bassam.
"(The OCP) doesn't really leave a lot of questions to the imagination around growth rates or how many people we think are coming to the district," he said.
The district is currently mulling options ranging from a dense design of eight storey mid-rises to a more concentrated approach featuring a single 22-storey skyscraper.
The district should have included a none-of-the-above option, according to Birchall. But for Bassam, the time to have that conversation was during the two-year period when the district was drafting its OCP.
"The question of 'none of the above' would've been properly asked and answered during the OCP process because that's when we discussed a one per cent growth rate for the community," Bassam said.
Lynn Valley is currently growing and will likely become home to 5,000 new residents over the next 20 years whether the district plans for it or not, said Bassam.
"It's what we're already experiencing," he said.
Shortly after her retirement over a decade ago, Birchall hopped into a car with her two cats and ten plants and drove across the country from Ontario to her new home in Lynn Valley. Having lived there for 11 years, Birchall said she's been left discombobulated at the prospect of her community being overrun by 5,000 new residents.
"There's still only two roads that go in and out of Lynn Valley. There's still only two bridges that cross the water," she said. "What are we trying to do to the Lynn Valley corridor? What is the future plan?"
Birchall criticized the district for a lack of infrastructure needed to deal with that many new residents. But certain projects, such as replacing Lions Gate Hospital, are already on the drawing board, according to Bassam.
The increase in population will have virtually no impact on traffic, according to an Urban Systems study that concluded the worst case scenario for Lynn Valley in the year 2030 would be a delay of approximately 30 seconds for each car heading into the town centre.
Birchall said she finds those conclusions difficult to believe. Failure to boost density will result in a very pricey bedroom community, according to Bassam. While a recent anti-highrise meeting drew more than 200 Lynn Valley residents, Bassam said he's spoken with many residents about the development plans.
"Some of them are adamant they just don't want any growth and change, and a couple of them were quite informed about it and understood the consequences of no growth meaning much higher property taxes for everybody involved."
Bosa is slated to bring its newest proposal for the area to council later this month.
"The district is looking for 5,000 people. We will be a very, very small fraction of that," said former West Vancouver mayor Mark Sager, who is working with Bosa on the project.
Bosa had previously advanced a 22-storey tower.
