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Sustainable development coming to Richmond
Richmond Municipal Update
By 2041, the population in the City of Richmond will double to 280,000 residents and the number of jobs will increase to 180,000. To accommodate newcomers, Richmond will need 46,271 new homes including 26,494 apartments and 19,777 ground oriented units.
Where will those homes be located?
For the past 18 months, the city has been gathering community input through public consultation for the 2041 Update to the Official Community Plan (OCP) which will guide Richmond’s future to 2041, said municipal experts speaking to 200 REALTORS ® who attended Richmond City Hall 2011, a presentation sponsored by the Richmond/South Delta/Gulf Islands Division.
In Keeping with Richmond’s proposed updated OCP and with community input, development will need to be “sustainable, which means it must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” according to Richmond planner June Christy.
This could be challenging given that Richmond’s land area is just 31,885 acres and of this, 38% is in the Agricultural Land Reserve, a situation that is unlikely to change given the City’s need for food production.
New development must therefore occur on the remaining 62%, the “urban footprint.” The solution is transit-oriented density.
New development will be focused:
· In the city centre near Canada Line stations (Bridgeport, Capston and Lansdowne) which will see new high density mixed uses, and
· In eight existing neighborhood centres which will see new-mixed and walkable communities with a range of housing types such as townhouses, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes.
The eight existing neighbourhood centres being considered are: Ironwood, Broadmoor, Garden City, Blundell, Cambie, Hamilton, Seafair and Terra Nova.
All new development will be connected to transportation and accessible to parks, greenspace, businesses, recreation and shopping – in walkable, vibrant, appealing neighborhoods.
Source Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver
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