Dear Editor,
[RE: Transportation projects to spur growth in Maple Ridge economy, Feb. 6, www.mapleridgenews.com]
On Jan. 27, Maple Ridge city council approved the Lougheed Transit Corridor Area Plan (LTCAP).
It was made clear that this was a broad overall plan and not a design, stating no decisions have been made.
However, the next step was not clearly stated.
Are developers standing by ready to build based on this overall plan?
Or will our city council follow this overall plan with concrete designs before commencing development, as our mayor implied?
Let’s hope it is the latter, and that the designers hear the bicycle community, climate advocates, and pedestrians who are all asking for separated, uni-directional bike lanes and sidewalks along the Greenway corridor vs. the conceptual Multi-Use Pathway (MUP) currently in the plan.
This plan had many ‘mixed-use’ areas that were not specifically defined.
Will the design of these mixed-use areas include community facilities to meet some of the amenities requested in the April to May 2025 recreation feasibility study?
Amenities such as aquatics, fitness areas, indoor walking tracks, a climbing wall, children’s play spaces, etc. Perhaps the parks will include pickleball, tennis courts and walking trails?
New developments must include some of these amenities rather than expecting existing amenities to suffice or significantly altering the existing amenities.
This may even allow the city to rethink the plans for the Hammond Community Centre and the Maple Ridge Golf Course, as requested by many letters to the local paper and petitions.
Of the 30,000 people expected to move in, I’m sure some will be thrilled to have a municipal golf course nearby, as well as all the new amenities developed close at hand.
Darlene Henry, Maple Ridge