Thursday, June 6, 2013

Guiding Principals at Harbourside

In order to ensure a large master-planned community comes together as envisioned, it is important to have a series of guiding principles in place to influence all aspects of the development before a shovel goes into the ground. In Harbourside’s case, these guiding principles are contained in the Development Permit Area (DPA) guidelines document which has been a collaborative effort involving City staff, advisory bodies and Concert. Harbourside’s DPA guidelines will control the form and character of the development in addition to regulating the look and feel of the surrounding buildings and public realm. The document can be broken into two board categories:

Environmental guidelines 
Environmental sustainability will be kept top of mind at Habourside. The primary objectives include designing the land use mix, transportation systems, buildings and energy systems to exceed the energy and carbon performance of conventional developments at the time of construction. Other environmental guidelines include effective management of rainwater and the reduction of potable water usage. 

Form and character guidelines
As a mixed-use development, Harbourside aims to revitalize waterfront land by creating a vibrant destination which is seen as a “complete community”. This attractive destination would include a mix of retail, office, residential and public spaces to animate the City’s waterfront. Specific objectives include:
  • Ensuring the form and character of residential, multi-family, commercial and mixed-use development are a desirable addition to the City of North Vancouver. 
  • Revitalizing an existing commercial node.  
  • Delivering desirable public realm, landscaping and building exterior design.

Concert and the City of North Vancouver are currently working to finalize the DPA guidelines. Once finalized, this document will be submitted to City Council for consideration at Public Hearing, as part of our rezoning application. 

2 comments:

  1. What is your planning regarding the rise in waterlevels due to global warming over the coming years? This whole area could be underwater in our children's lifetime.

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  2. Sea level rise has been a serious consideration in the planning for a revitalized Harbourside. To learn more about sea level rise at Harbourside please have a look at our blog post entitled "Addressing Sea Level Rise" published on January 22, 2013.

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