The ADS Project

SUSTAINABLE URBAN LANDSCAPES

Alternative Development Standards
for Sustainable Communities

CHAPTER ONE

Setting the Stage

In September of 1995, the UBC James Taylor Chair in Landscape and Liveable Environments held the first of three "Designs for Sustainable Urban Landscapes." This successful and highly visible event provided a compelling vision of what our communities could be like if they were designed and built to conform with emerging local, provincial, and federal policies for sustainable development. These policies include the Growth Strategies Amendment Act and GVRD Liveable Region Strategy. The Charrette produced many practical proposals for making our communities more sustainable, with more efficient use of land and water and more cohesive social environments. The complete version produced at the event has been captured in Sustainable Urban Landscapes: The Surrey Design Charrette, Patrick Condon Ed., 1996, UBC Press.

Each Charente created a tangible vision of what a community would look like if it achieved seven basic principles for liveable and sustainable communities:

Five minute walking distance to transit and commercial services
Different dwelling types allowed in the same neighbourhood and even on the same street
Detached dwellings that present a friendly face to the street
Car services and storage handled in lanes at the rear of dwellings
Natural drainage systems where storm water is always held on the surface and permitted to seep naturally into the ground
An interconnected street system
Narrower streets with lighter, cheaper, greener, smarter construction

Many of these principles could be implemented in many Lower Mainland communities today but certain subdivisions, engineering and zoning regulations would need to be amended first.

After the event, many individuals who viewed the results of the charrete suggested to follow up activities that might increase its impact. Most often suggested was a project to examine how these ideas could be quickly and practically applied, given the existing regulatory conflict. The James Taylor Chair has been working in partnerships with the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board since that time to carefully craft this follow up project. This workshop is the result.

This project is unique in that no other study or initiative has explored the costs and benefits - financial and other - of the "green infrastructure" proposals of the charrete, proposals characterized by narrow streets, gravel lanes, and surface storm drain systems linked to a preserved and enhanced natural drainage system. This project is also unique in that no other initiative has shown how a combination of efficiencies, such as those proposed by the Charrette teams, can dramatically decrease the cost of detached housing.

Now that there is a growing interest in these alternatives, the challenge is how to begin to implement alternative development standards (ADS) and move Lower Mainland communities toward more sustainable forms.

BENEFITS

These more sustainable developments offer a number of financial and other benefits, namely:

reduction in the cost of detached housing
more efficient use of land in residential areas
lower maintenance costs for municipal infrastructure and utilities
improved access to natural amenities for all citizens
increased protection of habitats and water quality
reduction in per capita energy use for transportation and utilities

CHALLENGES

Besides the "lighter, greener, cheaper" benefits these urban designs offer, moving from traditional to ADS presents a number of challenges:

Will these designs sell? To whom?
Are there any potential municipal liabilities associated with them? If so, how can they be avoided or minimized?
What financial institutions will back developments using ADS? What will they require?
Are there public safety considerations, eg. fire and police and how can they be addressed?
Can people adapt to new living patterns imposed by smaller lots, surface drainage systems and other?

Regional Context