On the slopes of Hollyburn Mountain and in Lighthouse Park, you can find some of the last stands of old-growth trees bordering civilization in Metro Vancouver. The district is home to the wildly popular Cypress Provincial Park, and the Cypress Mountain ski resort within it.

The district’s plans for more housing options and demographic shifts will likely be a work in progress for years to come, but West Vancouver will remain loaded with both natural and cultural gems. District staff say it should add another 1,000 to 1,200 net new homes, planned in such a way that they help maintain the seaside village feel of the area but also address the district’s challenges in demographics and aging housing stock.Īt higher elevations, the municipality is also seeing through a plan for Cypress Village, a new mountainside village centre envisioned to be a complete community with dense residential, business and services within walking distance of each other. And the Ambleside area plan is next on the list. The municipality has completed two local area plans that will allow for future redevelopment at the Taylor Way and Marine Drive area (near Park Royal), as well as in Horseshoe Bay. The ADBIA also commissioned some stunning murals on otherwise blank walls, and recently led a visioning process generating some enthusiasm for revitalization of the neighbourhood. got its start in Horseshoe Bay in the early 1980s. It’s a fitting move, as the very first craft brewery in B.C. On their advice, council recently approved plans to allow breweries, distilleries, and wineries to set up shop in certain business areas. The Ambleside and Dundarave Business Improvement Association has been taking on some ambitious planning and beautification projects to inject some excitement and commerce back into the sleepy village. There may be towering red cedars on the waterfront instead of towering smokestacks or grain terminals, but without valuable industrial land, it means West Vancouver residential property owners shoulder a disproportionately high share of the tax burden compared to their neighbours around the region.Ībout half of the people living in Ambleside, the district’s main commercial/residential hub, are over the age of 65.īut, this isn’t to say the sun is setting on West Van (though the sunsets are lovely to see there, particularly from Lighthouse Park or the Hi View Lookout on Cypress Bowl Road). The municipality is also unique in that it is one of the only in B.C.

In Ambleside, where half of the population are renters, 97 per cent of the purpose-built rental apartments were built in the 1960s and ’70s. The vacancy rate for rental apartments was last pegged by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. In 2021, the average assessment for a single-family home was $3.7 million, while the average assessment for a condo was $1.6 million. Housing is an exclusive affair in West Van. Demographically, its residents have the third oldest average age compared to other Metro Vancouver municipalities, and young people are particularly underrepresented. It has one of the highest reported household incomes in the country. The census shows West Vancouver to be a Lower Mainland outlier in many respects. The affluent community of West Vancouver, 10 minutes from downtown Vancouver, prides itself on its seaside village-like atmosphere, sprawling parks and trails, and access to the mountains.Īnd over the decades its residents have striven to keep it that way. Note: This story originally appeared in the North Shore Progress Report, a special feature section of the North Shore News.

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