SOLD OUT UDI Fraser Valley Luncheon: What is Smart Growth/Development?

No one comes out against 'smart development'. (Hey, it's smart!)  But what are the essentials that make development smart?
 
Are there commitments already made or likely to occur - like SkyTrain to Langley, changes to community plans and building codes - that are moving us towards smart development already, and we just need to take advantage of them?  What's missing that will make it happen faster?
 
And what about changing lifestyles and the use of new and existing technologies - like telecommuting - that will reshape our existing communities?
 
Let's not forget political change too. Do political leaders (and home builders) take 'climate emergency' seriously - and what does that really imply?


Gordon Price (Fellow with SFU Centre for Dialogue) will moderate a panel featuring: Don Luymes (General Manager, Civic Lands & Facilities at the City of Coquitlam), Cameron McNeill (Executive Director, Partner at MLA Canada), and Bob Ransford (Vice President, Development at Century Group). The panel will dive into the following topics.

• What does smart growth look like in areas of the Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver:

1. Where rapid transit (or frequent bus transit) is available?
2. Where rapid transit (or frequent bus transit) is not available, at least not yet?

• What are some planning and development strategies that improve sustainability of these places as they become denser and more urban? Are municipal policies and neighbourhood plans evolving to meet these new realities?
• Is today's consumer looking for and buying into smart growth principles?
• Are macro-economic trends impacting the urbanization of the Fraser Valley?
• What is the pre-sale market absorbing and how is sales activity helping shape end user demands?

So many good questions. Now we just need good answers. Come to hear and participate in a dialogue on smart development/growth from four different perspectives.

 

BIOS 

DON LUYMES - GENERAL MANAGER, CIVIC LANDS & FACILITIES, CITY OF COQUITLAM
Don is the General Manager, Civic Lands & Facilities for the City of Coquitlam, responsible for planning, developing, constructing and managing the City's extensive land holdings and capital assets.  Prior to joining Coquitlam, Don served as Manager of Community Planning for the Cities of Surrey and Abbotsford, with responsibility for land use, urban design, housing and environmental policy.  Don is an Adjunct Professor of Urban Design at UBC where he teaches in the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 

CAMERON MCNEILL - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PARTNER,  MLA CANADA 
A pioneer in the real estate development industry, Cameron McNeill co-founded MAC Marketing Solutions in 2001. His dedication to strategically differentiate was instrumental in becoming one of Western Canada's leading fully-integrated project marketing and sales firms. Now as MLA Canada, Cameron builds on this success by offering incomparable value to clients with one of the top performing sales force, market intelligence and product development teams in the industry. His passion for product design, sales and marketing is expressed creatively and cleverly, and is passed on to his team through thoughtful mentorship and an inspiring company culture.

BOB RANSFORD - VICE PRESIDENT, DEVELOPMENT, CENTURY GROUP 
Bob Ransford is an urban designer who has worked in the urban development business for 31  years, both as a senior executive in real estate development companies and as a consulting professional.
 
He joined Century Group in 2016 and is Vice President, Development, after having worked closely with the company over more than 15 years as a consultant on project planning and entitlements, primarily on the Southlands project.  Prior to joining Century Group, Bob operated his own consulting practice, assisting a multitude of clients in the urban development business with project conception and navigating the complex public and regulatory approval processes.
 
In addition to his keen interest in urban design, Bob has an extensive understanding of public policy development, public issues management and the political process, having worked in senior levels of government in both Ottawa and Victoria and in municipal politics as an advisor to political leaders for nearly 40 years. He has also worked as a journalist throughout much of his adult life and for more than 14 years wrote a regular bi-weekly column in the Vancouver Sun newspaper on urban development and housing issues.
 
He is a former Planning Commissioner in the City of Vancouver and sat on the City's Urban Design Panel. He is also the past-President of Smart Growth BC, a co-founder of Small Housing BC, the past Chair of Catalyst Community Developments Society a non-profit developer and he has been involved with more than 20 non-profit and community service organizations as a volunteer director over the last 40 years.

GORDON PRICE - FELLOW, SFU CENTRE FOR DIALOGUE (MODERATOR)
Gordon Price, previously the Director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University, is a Fellow with the SFU Centre for Dialogue. In 2002, he finished his sixth term as a City Councillor in Vancouver, BC.  He also served on the Board of Metro Vancouver and was appointed to the first board of TransLink in 1989. He also blogs and podcasts on urban issues, transportation and regional politics, with a focus on Vancouver, at 'Price Tags' (www.pricetags.wordpress.com) and 'PriceTalks' (https://pricetags.ca/podcast/)