EXPECT excavators and cranes where there used to be demolished homes and vacant lots along Mountain Highway in the Seylynn neighbourhood. District of North Vancouver council granted the first of several building permits there this week for Seylynn Village. Whatever the name - and Seylynn Towers would be more accurate - it will be one of the larger housing developments in recent North Shore history.
The district is making much ado of implementing its new official community plan, which envisions more walkable neighbourhoods.
There's no doubt this is a pocket of the district that can do with some fresh thinking and it provides a nearly perfect blank canvas for the 790 singles, couples and families who will call this "village" home at full build-out. If density is to go somewhere in the district, this spot has great potential.
But the neighbourhood is hardly walkable. The nearest things in walking distance are a noisy highway interchange and an industrial area. Almost all who move in will likely drive to get to shopping and commercial amenities.
With the amount of extra height and density, which even supporters on council were leery about, we are looking at an explosion of residential development while commercial and community development plays catch-up.
Now that construction looms, it's incumbent on the district to unveil the planning for the rest of what will make this truly a neighbourhood, and get it started quickly. It should have been done before we got to this point.
