Three new mayors coming in North Vancouver, West Vancouver
Posted October 9, 2018 5:00 am.
Last Updated October 18, 2018 11:49 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
NORTH SHORE (NEWS 1130) – In one corner of the Lower Mainland, not a single mayor will be returning to their job.
All three leaders are stepping down on the North Shore, meaning there will be a sweeping change in leadership in a region where housing affordability, transportation gridlock and the rate of development all remain controversial issues.
Outgoing West Vancouver Mayor Michael Smith says his successor’s biggest challenge will be creating the type of housing units he feels the district needs.
“We don’t need any more huge, single-family houses. We have three times as many bedrooms in West Vancouver as we had in the 1970s and one-third the number of kids in public school,” he tells CityNews.
“What we need is rental housing, apartments, townhouses, duplexes and that sort of thing.”
But increasing density is a hot-button topic in a region, with only three entrances and exits — the two bridges connecting the North Shore to the rest of the Lower Mainland and the Sea to Sky Highway to Squamish and Whistler.
Any given afternoon, you may see traffic jammed along the Upper Levels Highway and the approaches to the crossings with many North Vancouver residents blaming the rate of development, saying population growth has outpaced the ability of infrastructure to keep up.
The argument from outgoing North Vancouver District mayor Richard Walton — who has spent much of his four terms pushing for developments meant to offer options to people priced off the North Shore — is that traffic jams are a symptom of prohibitively expensive housing.
He says too many people who work in the region have to commute in from other regions.
City of North Vancouver mayor Darrell Mussatto — who has also spent four terms in office — says creating affordable housing is one of the biggest challenges his successor will face.
“It’s rental housing, affordable housing and allowing people — even those with good jobs — to be able to afford to live here. It means we have to do things a bit differently,” he says.
“In the past, we all had single-family homes. That’s not really sustainable any more. We don’t have a lot of room for that. We have to allow people to have a great quality of life but live in a more sustainable way. So renting, and affordable rentals, are really key for our city and we really need more of it.”
And even as a major interchange upgrade is underway on Highway 1 at the north end of the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge, Mussatto says the North Shore needs more transportation options.
“We have to give more people alternatives to using their cars because we don’t have any more space for roads — we’ve run out. We need to do a much better job at public transportation, a much better job of allowing people who want to cycle or walk to do that as well. It means a big change but we can do it.”
Mussatto believes the upcoming addition of rapid bus lines on the North Shore will make a big difference. His advice for the city’s next mayor?
“Managing public expectations is going to be big. We really need to make sure we can deliver on what people want and I think they want solutions to the traffic problems. I would tell [the next mayor] to listen to people but give them alternatives and really tackle the hard decisions in creating better public transit and how we can make it a safer city to walk and cycle.”
Mayoral candidates in all three cities need to make tough decisions, trying to appeal to voters largely fed up with traffic congestion and — whoever ends up leading — grappling with maintaining quality of life while dealing with demand for affordable homes.
In North Vancouver District, voters are electing one mayor, six councillors, and four school trustees.
Voters in North Vancouver City are choosing one mayor, six councillors, and six school trustees.
One mayor, six councillors and five school trustees will be elected in West Vancouver.
