WATERFRONT ACQUISITION IN WEST VANCOUVER Ambitious, controversial, and forward-thinking
In October 1975, the West Vancouver Municipal Council decided to construct a continuous public walk from Dundarave Park to the Cleveland Dam, a distance of about 10 kilometres. Full public access would mean gradually buying up the 32 houses and the commercial properties occupying the waterfront from Ambleside Park to John Lawson Park (13th to 18th streets) so that when all the projects were completed, the public could walk from the Cleveland Dam to Ambleside Park, then along the waterfront from 13th to 18th, and finally take the Centennial Seawalk to Dundarave Park. The plan to purchase these properties—as they became available—was ambitious and controversial, requiring a long-term and potentially expensive commitment from consecutive councils.
The purchase of the properties from 1975 to the present was closely linked to the construction of the Seawalk from 1966 to 1971. In 1965, Council was searching for a project to celebrate Canada’s Centennial. Councillor Don Lanskail persuaded Council to forego several short-term projects in favour of a public Seawalk that would run from Dundarave Park to John Lawson Park. Council voted in favour, despite serious obstacles such as negotiating with apartment owners in the new 50-acre apartment zone between 18th and 23rd streets, as well as homeowners and BC Rail, which held a provincial lease on or near the waterfront. West Vancouver was a residential community with no industrial tax base, and benefits from the plan would not be fully realized for many years.
Lengthy negotiations ensued, and foreshore rights in front of the apartment zone were gradually acquired. From 1967 to 1971, the Seawalk proceeded in stages, block by block, from 24th to 19th Street. But homeowners between 18th and 13th refused to allow a public walkway in front of their homes. So in October 1975, Council decided to buy the homes as they became available. West Vancouver purchased the first home in 1975 for $85,000 ($397,860 in 2018 dollars). For the last 43 years, 30 of 32 properties have been purchased; the most recent, in 2015, at $4.9 million.
In the early decades of the 20th century, the small vacation community of West Vancouver was oriented toward the waterfront, notably around the pier at the foot of 17th Street, and after incorporation in 1912, at the foot of 14th Street, where the ferries from Vancouver docked and the beaches were lined with cottages. The
