Delbrook Lands Community Dialogue

September 19, 2016

In fall 2015, the District of North Vancouver partnered with the SFU Centre for Dialogue's Civic Engage program to develop an innovative, open and transparent engagement process on the future of the Delbrook Lands, a 4.3-acre site located at 600 West Queens Road.

The goal of this six-month process was to determine the most broadly supported land use options through a series of dialogue-based engagement events. The process consisted of three phases:

Phase One: Ideas Generation Residents and stakeholders from the immediate neighborhood and across the District shared their ideas on the potential future uses of the Delbrook Lands and provide input on the next steps of the engagement process via an evening community dialogue event and an online survey.  

Phase Two: Research and Technical Analysis  Community and Council member ideas were analyzed to determine a range of options for the future use of the Delbrook Lands, as well as their positive and negative impacts. This information was compiled into a discussion guide. Guidelines for the deliberative dialogue were also developed and approved by District Council.

Phase Three: Deliberative Dialogue  The culmination of the engagement process was a day-long deliberative dialogue in June 2016. Local and District-wide residents and stakeholders participated in the day-long event, where they took on the role of a District planner and worked together to recommend options they believed to be in the best interest of the entire community.

Reports

Outcomes

Key findings from the process included a desire to see a multi-use site that serves both the local neighbourhood and the District, including a park, non-maket housing, seniors care and childcare services. 85% of post-event survey respondents indicated they would be interested in participating in similar events in the future, with only 3% who would not.

Council approved a final site vision in summer 2017 that is directly traceable to participants’ recommendations. This vision retains public ownsership, which was uncertain at the start of engagement. Further, the inclusion of adult daycare facilities would likely not have occurred without the idea generation process in Phase One, which identified this as a major community need. The inclusion of these facilities is now an integral part of the approved site vision, with the opportunity to co-locate adult daycare next to childcare to enable intergenerational programming. 

For more information, please see dnv.org/delbrooklands

Partner Organization

The District of North Vancouver is a district municipality in British Columbia, Canada, and is part of Metro Vancouver. It surrounds the City of North Vancouver on three sides. As of 2016, the District stands as the second wealthiest city in Canada, with neighbouring West Vancouver the richest.

Select Media & Commentary

Delbrook Lands plans moving forward, North Shore News (January 19, 2017)

1,000 ideas for what to do with the Delbrook Lands, North Shore News (March 9, 2016)

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