Squamish....A perception   (Dave Colwell  Jan.2013)

 

If there is a problem with the layout of our District, it lies with its History and the related Geography;  not primarily with its modern-day planners and developers.

We all live in a valley which was carved out by glacial action more than 8000 years ago. For a long time it has been  home to Salish First Nation People who continue to live along the river from Cheekye to  Howe Sound . They were never concentrated in one single place in the valley but rather in settlements separated according to their needs and available resources along the river.

 

Then We came. The mouth of the estuary was a little further up the valley in the late 19th. century. The land was beginning to be farmed and the logging industry was evolving as the early settlers cut trees  to build their essential structures and later sell the wood to the outside. Brackendale became a bit of an agricultural  hub and the estuary naturally  became a port to enable travel to Vancouver and for shipping wood. There was no really good road south in the very early years. Soon the railway came as the settlements grew and this began to segment the valley, fanning  out close to the estuary.

 

The rough social demography of what we have now slowly emerged. Brackendale remained and expanded slowly as did the community around the port and arable lands just back from the ever advancing estuary. 

 

These two communities, separated by the transversely  flowing  Mamquam river form the nuclei of what we have today and unfortunately what some now call a "sprawl". When you have two communities close together there will always be growth between as there will be a road (or in our case also a railway). And it's always easier to build in already cleared areas... namely alongside these communication corridors. This process has inevitably happened here and speeded up recently. Some say this is a bad thing but can we turn it back and change it?

 

The legacy that this history and geography has left us is a "Downtown" cut and sliced by river, sloughs and railway  lines. The railway owns the land through which it passes, posing restrictions on would-be developers also the river and sloughs inexorably try to change their courses. Road builders like easy,  purposeful routes to connect A to B to C etc. so the end result might not always mesh perfectly with existing communities along the way. Meanwhile the population grows with all the needs for service. The more the population grows, the more arguments  ensue regarding the right direction to take.

 

In short, "(Squamish) ,we have a problem"....at least in the perception held by many. Some want heavy industry, some light. Some don't like amenities near the highway; some don't care. Some want a cultural centre in one place...in our case , the old "Downtown". But we all need services for our family needs; and for our expanding population these must have space. The question is: Is there now enough space downtown?...I think not.  Whatever stores are placed there will never provide for all the needs of our present valley population. Always remember that this older town site is vulnerable to flooding and this is one of the reasons for so many later sub-divisions  being built on higher ground such as Hospital Hill and Garibaldi Highlands. I will have my boat launch ready when the sea levels rise!

 

Anyway, I am happy with situation as it is and often look sideways to the snow capped mountains to realise how lucky I am. I rarely HAVE TO drive to Vancouver to shop and Squamish is a great compromise between Rural and Big City life. ...Good discussions too!