Many Point Roberts residents attended an open house at the Southlands show home in the Tsawwassen Town Center Mall on August 18, where Century Group president Sean Hodgins introduced visitors to the small footprint cottages that will form the backbone of the residential development.

The Southlands application is still under review. A public information meeting will be scheduled this fall, following which the zoning application will go to the Delta council. If it goes through a first and second reading there will be a public hearing.  The official community plan for the project and the timeline of the approval process are available on the Corporation of Delta website at www.corp.delta.bc.ca/EN/main/municipal/323/27003/southlands.html. 

Following an overwhelmingly positive vote by members of the Tsawwassen First Nation in January 2012, leaders of the First Nation have moved forward with plans for two malls and a housing development. Their entire economic development plan is available at www.tsawwassenfirstnation.com/land_use_plan.php.

The plan calls for a 1.2 million square-foot mall, Tsawwassen Mills, to be developed by Ivanhoe Cambridge, modeled on the developer’s other projects, Cross Iron Mills near Calgary and Vaughan Mills near Toronto. For a glimpse at how the new mall might look, you can visit their websites at crossironmills.com and vaughanmills.com.

A second outdoor retail mall will be developed by Property Development Group, the developer of Cascades Mall in Burlington, Capilano Mall in North Vancouver and Eaton Center. 

A bit further afield, a Downtown Ladner Waterfront Revitalization plan has been prepared by Quay Property Management and is available on the Corporation of Delta’s website at www.corp.delta.bc.ca/EN/main/municipal/323/27003/dlwr.html. The plan is to redevelop municipally owned properties along the waterfront, including the Seven Seas building, to create a “create a vibrant marine-themed market place with a mix of restaurant, retail, small scale office, eco-tourism and public uses.”

The recent burst in development plans has also spawned a series of studies, specifically one commissioned by the corporation of Delta looking at congestion in the George Massey Tunnel and along River Road in a bid to push the provincial government toward a second crossing linking Delta to Richmond. Results are expected to be presented to the Delta council in October.