The natural environment surrounding Squamish supports an incredible lifestyle. Given our proximity to the Lower Mainland, stunning natural setting, and extensive recreational opportunities, it’s not surprising that Squamish is experiencing rapid growth. This, in combination with other factors such as an ongoing undersupply of housing across Canada, has contributed to high demand for housing in Squamish and affordability challenges.   

To address these challenges, the District is working to both manage growth and support affordability with the limited tools available to local government. It is critical to preserve the surrounding environment that fuels our lifestyle and leave refuge for local wildlife. It is also critical to provide a diverse range of housing that meets the needs of current and future residents.

Infill is a way to find new housing opportunities within existing Squamish neighbourhoods, without sprawling beyond the current community footprint. Neighbourhood infill represents an opportunity to ensure our community can offer housing that accommodates the children and grandchildren of current residents in the coming decades. Neighbourhood planning is the process by which the District can work with residents to formulate a plan for how infill could evolve, as properties change ownership in the coming decades.

The District of Squamish continues to focus on enabling new housing stock within the Growth Management Boundary, consistent with current Official Community Plans (OCP) policies and the SLRD Regional Growth Strategy. The Growth Management Boundary encompasses all existing neighbourhoods and can be viewed in Schedule C at this link.

The population of Squamish has been growing at a rate of 2.46% per year over the past 15 years from 2001 to 2016. Between the last two censuses, Squamish’s population grew by 2,354 people, an average growth rate of 2.74% per year from 2011 to 2016. Squamish is expected to experience similar levels of population growth in the coming years. 

Analysis during the development of the OCP indicated that anticipated growth over the next 15 years could be accommodated within existing neighbourhoods and growth areas, without the need to sprawl outside the Growth Management Boundary. Following adoption of the OCP, the District has consistently directed development within the Growth Management Boundary.

By directing any new development to infill within existing neighbourhoods and limited densification in the core commercial areas, our OCP polices help mitigate pressures to sprawl into surrounding green spaces. This supports the preservation of environmental values such as wildfire habitat and recreational opportunities that include our world-class trail network.

No changes to the Growth Management Boundary are contemplated as part of the Garibaldi Estates planning process.

Infill refers to expanding the types of housing options within existing neighbourhoods. Infill can include housing forms such as laneway homes, smaller lot single family homes, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, townhomes, row houses apartments and mixed-use buildings.

Neighbourhood infill is important in the District for many reasons. Neighbourhood infill supports housing diversity, which leads to more affordability. It also aligns with the goals of more complete, compact, walkable neighbourhoods with access to a range of commercial services, transit, and employment space. By providing more housing close to services, employment areas, and close to public transit we can reduce reliance on the automobile which can help to reduce our impact on climate change. (Transportation accounts for 52% of our community carbon emissions, and 'Shifting Beyond The Car' is one of the six Big Moves in the District's Community Climate Action Plan(External link)). Infill development also helps share the cost of existing infrastructure over a greater number of taxpayers. 

Infill supports fundamental principals of the Official Community Plan and is good for liveability, the environment and addressing climate change. 

The Squamish 2040 Official Community Plan identifies Garibaldi Estates as a key location to accommodate neighbourhood infill within the District because of its central location along the core transit network and highway, its role as an existing major commercial hub, and its lower flood risk relative to many other areas of the community within the floodplain.

Staff will work with residents to develop a plan that is a good fit for the neighbourhood and improves the liveability of the area.

The goal of neighbourhood planning is to ensure that any development proposals are aligned with a community-driven vision for the area that is informed by residents and the Official Community Plan. Neighbourhood planning can avoid ad hoc developments that only address individual development interests and preclude the development of a holistic vision.

Through the planning process, key community values can be identified that can be preserved or enhanced within the neighbourhood. Community amenities might include park space, access to day-to-day services, employment space, sidewalks, bike lanes, road network improvements, tree preservation or community gardens. 

No, this planning process will not put any obligations on any residents to develop their properties. For example, residents who live in single family homes can retain their existing zoning and maintain their home in its current condition for as long as they like. However, the planning process may identify additional housing options that are supported on their property. If an owner decides at some point in the future that they would like to explore other housing options, the neighbourhood plan will include policy that provides direction regarding what options would be supported by the District. Neighbourhood infill project are intended to provide land-owners with more choice on how they choose to use their property, in line with goals and objectives in the Official Community Plan.

No, the direction to engage in a neighbourhood planning process for the Garibaldi Estates has been publicly identified in the Official Community Plan (OCP) since the plan's adoption in 2018. The OCP clearly identifies the Garibaldi Estates as a location for neighbourhood planning that provides opportunity for increased housing diversity and density. 

In addition, the OCP provides clear direction to initiate a public process to repeal the Veterans' Land Act Bylaw 211, 1966 and to support infill development near the Garibaldi commercial area. These policies were developed as part of the multi-year public engagement process that led to the adoption of the OCP.

The District has not provided any information to developers who may be buying or selling land in advance of this process. Land speculation is strongly discouraged at this time given that there is no certainty regarding the potential outcome of the planning process. To be clear, if developers are approaching property owners, they are doing so before the District and the neighbourhood residents have had chance to develop the neighbourhood plan. 

This neighbourhood planning process will work with Squamish residents and non-profit organizations to determine how infill housing could be accommodated in the Garibaldi Estates over the next 20 years and beyond. The process is expected to take about two years and will begin in fall 2021. The District’s goal is to reach a broad range of residents throughout the process, both in the neighbourhood and across the community. 

The housing survey was created to support the Garibaldi Estates neighbourhood planning process. A key goal of this planning process is to identify appropriate opportunities for increased housing diversity within the neighbourhood.

Neighbourhood infill and housing diversity are important within the District for many reasons. First, diversity of housing forms supports increased affordability and the provision of appropriate housing for a broad range of residents. Infill also aligns with the goals of more complete neighbourhoods to support community amenities, services, transit, and employment space, and helps share the cost of existing infrastructure over a greater number of taxpayers. Infill also enables the District of avoid sprawling development, in line with growth management policies established through successive OCPs. This is good for liveability, the environment and addressing climate change.

The Squamish 2040 Official Community Plan identifies Garibaldi Estates as a key location to accommodate neighbourhood infill within the District given its central location along the core transit network and highway, its role as an existing major commercial hub and its lower flood risk relative to many other areas of the community within the floodplain. While the District does need to find ways to incorporate neighbourhood infill in the Estates, what that looks like has not been pre-determined. Instead, staff will work with residents to develop a plan that is a good fit for the neighbourhood and improves the livability of the area.

Given this context, the survey has been designed to gather feedback from Squamish residents about new infill housing options that could be supported in the Garibaldi Estates in the future, which are not currently permitted. The housing forms presented are missing middle housing options. The question regarding different housing forms specifically asks: “Please let us know how appropriate you think the following housing styles are as infill options for the Garibaldi Estates neighbourhood in the coming decades.”. For every housing form, respondents have the option of indicating that they would not support the housing form anywhere within the Garibaldi Estates. As such, the survey design does not force participants to support any particular form of infill; every form of infill can be assessed individually.

Because single family homes are already permitted in almost all residential areas of the Garibaldi Estates, it would not make sense to present these housing forms as a new form of housing that could be considered.

A unique attribute of the plan area is the existence Bylaw 211, which restricts subdivision of parcels knows as the Veteran’s Land Act or VLA Lands. These lots were created as a soldier settlement program under the Veterans' Land Administration, a branch of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Veterans Land Act was developed during WW II and followed a Canadian tradition dating from the 17th century of settling returned and ex-soldiers on the land.

Given the rural nature of the lands, the parcels were typically larger than seen in today’s single family subdivisions in order to facilitate small scale farming and livestock activities. Due to their central location and existing infrastructure (roads, intersections, hydro, sewer and water, etc.) they are a suitable area of infill development. In recognition of this characteristic, the OCP includes policy support for the repeal of Bylaw 211 to support infill development.

No. While we need to find ways to add a diversity of housing, no decisions have been made about what that looks like or where it should be located. This process is focused on determining the types of infill housing that might be appropriate for the neighbourhood. It is also focused on determining where in the Garibaldi Estates might be appropriate for additional housing forms to be added. There have been no land use scenarios developed.

A variety of images were created to help showcase the differences between each of the land use scenarios: 

• The images are only intended to show approximate height and density of potential future land uses. 
• Other elements (e.g. design and location, aesthetics, parking, landscaping) are not intended to be accurate representations.