Ambleside By The Sea

 

The District would like to revitalize our village to create a more vibrant high street. From this corner of 13th and Marine, the downtown core of the village would extend up to 18th and include both Bellevue and Clyde within its boundaries. To establish this walkable, exciting shopping and entertainment area, the District needs to gently increase density in Ambleside in order to create enough patronage for new downtown businesses. One way to achieve this is by re-zoning single family property so that more townhouse complexes and mid rise apartments could be built over time. This, however, may result in driving low income seniors out of the area.   

The statistics on the surface look alarming. According to the last  census Ambleside had 7,500 residents with over half living in single person households.  

About half of the people in Ambleside are over sixty-five years of age and about one quarter of the people in Ambleside make less than $30,000, three-quarters of the people make less than $50,000. 

We are often accused of being the richest postal code in Canada. Many of the seniors may have annuities and other tax havens. The income that shows up on their tax returns may be only a portion of their actual income. However there may be many seniors renting homes (almost 50% of Ambleside residents are renters), who may be forced out of the area due to new higher rents. 

I believe that Ambleside could create an attractive business area and Seniors could remain in their homes. It doesn't have to be an either/or situation. The District needs to take care of rezoning Ambleside and the Provincial Government needs to protect low income Senior Citizens. This could be done through the existing rental subsidy. Using both an income and a means test, people who need this support could age in place comfortably knowing that rent increases would not force them to move.

If there were a number of NORC committees established in those apartment buildings in Ambleside with a majority of older people, they could come together and approach the Provincial Government to make this possible. We are fast becoming a very large demographic. 

Planning For the Future

 

 “Who looks not before finds himself behind.” 

This is a quote from Pubilius Syrus in the First Century BC. I learned this from a February 8th editorial in the North Shore News about Ambleside. The author thinks that the residents of Ambleside are averse to change possibly because almost half of the residents of Ambleside are over the age of sixty-five. 

However, I think we can all agree as the writer points out that our "neighbourhood is more than deserving of some rejuvenation”.

Some benefits to revitalization, as pointed out in the article, are:

• Housing options to match current/future needs

• Greater walkability

• Public amenities

• Beautiful public spaces

• Lower carbon emissions

• Commercial vibrancy 

• Renewed infrastructure

• Diversified tax base

• A place for our workforce to bed down at night.  

You can hear this article by clicking the link below:

https://www.nsnews.com/opinion/editorial-west-vancouverites-should-not-fear-change-in-ambleside-6499482

There are workshops planned this week to discuss possible options to rejuvenate Ambleside at the Seniors' Activity Centre.  All eight in-person and virtual workshop dates are full, with registration closed. Maybe Ambleside residents are not all that 'averse to change'.

https://www.westvancouverite.ca/plan-ambleside

Outdoor Gym

It looks like we are going to have a new outdoor cross fit type gym next to the skate board park at the beach. Our mayor has negotiated a deal with Larco (Park Royal developers) to create this facility on Ambleside Beach in the same area that occupied the outdoor swimming pool many years ago. 

Sometime ago this old pool area was redeveloped as a skate board park which is very popular in good weather. I have wondered from time to time if the park board could install park benches with seating on both sides. This way people could watch their children using the skate park while others who wanted to enjoy their takeout food from the Boat Shed nearby could enjoy the water views. 

Sometime ago, as well, another outdoor gym was installed in this area. It can be found in the weeds just east of the entrance to the Ambleside par 3 golf course. It looks a little sad and neglected. Perhaps the Park Board (if we have one) could establish a running/walking circuit between the old one and the new one. This would give runners a break from the hard surface of the seawall and a chance to break their run with a few more chin-ups. 

You can't get lost in Ambleside

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/7107034637417082248 

Ambleside is not very large; you cannot get lost. It is contained within  an area that is approximately ten blocks wide and ten blocks deep. Boundaries are from Burrard Inlet on the south up to Haywood and Jefferson in the north with 13th and 23rd streets as its east/west boundary. This area has parks, a spectacular beach and many trails and pathways to discover along with soccer, baseball, lacrosse playing  fields, an 18 hole par three golf course, streams and ponds and of course our seawall which extends from Park Royal to Dundarave. 

From a feng shui perspective it is the perfect place to live. We have large mountains on our back to the north to protect us in a natural amphitheatre and to the south with have a wide expanse of water with views from Mount Baker to UBC and Vancouver Island.

On a sunny Spring day like this with temperatures above 20C for the first time this year, it is the perfect place to walk.

The Future of Ambleside

 Tuesday, March 7, 2023

The Future of Ambleside

In February, our District Council unveiled the Local Area Plan for Ambleside along with an Options Booklet which offers up some interesting statistics about Ambleside.

The 2016 census lists the population of Ambleside at 7,500 with 57% of these people living in single person households. As well, 48% of the residents of Ambleside were over 58 years old. Today, these people are all senior citizens. 

 The District is looking for feedback on what we envision for our community. This plan outlines the long-range vision for Ambleside. Here is a link.

https://www.westvancouverite.ca/plan-ambleside?utm_source=ehq_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ehq-Get-ready-to-help-create-the-Ambleside-Local-Area-Plan-review-the-draft-options-and-bring-your-ideas&utm_source=ehq&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=website

As we are probably the largest identifiable group in Ambleside, this may be the best time to make wants and needs met. Besides the obvious needs like better sidewalks and 'on-demand mini buses' (promised by our new mayor before he was elected), how nice would it be to have a special department set up, in coordination with other public agencies, to allow us to age-in-place comfortably and happily.

Just think of wild possibilities for a moment - maybe with a phone call, we could have a personal assistant to help us when needs arose, or even possibly setting up a system where doctors or nurse practitioners could make house calls again. Even having a resource that could give us information and direction would be nice.

But,.... “How do we go about doing that?”