SUMMARY In February and March 2010, Vancouver was the host city for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. In order to accommodate the thousands of ath- letes participating in the Games, the Olympic Village was developed as part of a larger ocean-side develop- ment known as the South East False Creek Development, with the Olympic and Paralympic Village located on the southeast side of False Creek. This prime location adja- cent to downtown enabled athletes to easily walk or bus to Vancouver’s shopping and entertainment districts and to attend the numerous ceremonial and cultural celebra- tions at neighbouring BC Place. The development has involved a long and sometimes raucous journey mired with financial uncertainty, political unrest, and generous portions of negative publicity which continue to this day. On the evening of Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011, pibc
sponsored and co-hosted an event to discuss Vancouver’s fabled Olympic Village. pibc members Christine Callihoo and Alex Taylor were in attendance and have prepared a summary of the event, highlighting some of the les- sons learned.
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ancouver’s Olympic Village is a development built to very high green building standards, but also mired
in negative publicity. The project’s origins date back to the 1990 “Clouds of Change” report which was a program of action to address climate change that promised to explore the potential of developing Southeast False Creek as a working model of a sustainable community. The Olympic Village appeared in a Council report for the first time in 1998, and the plan was formally adopted in 2005, with the aim to build an environmentally and socially sustainable community of 10,000 to 16,000 people.
However, the land costs contributed to the change
in the housing mix, and the Millennium Development Corporation won the bid for the land at $193 million— the highest amount of money paid per square foot for land in Canadian history. However, Millennium needed help with the loan guarantee, which the City of Vancouver decided to support, ultimately becoming the lender for the project. Right at the outset, there were differing opinions
about what Southeast False Creek should achieve. For example, it was originally planned to be built with one-third social housing, one-third non-market and one-third market housing. Today, the breakdown is 80% market housing and 20% non-market housing. The Olympic Village was a major civic election topic in 2008 and remains one of Council’s primary—and most controversial—issues. On Tuesday, February 22nd 2011, the Planning
Institute of British Columbia (pibc) sponsored and co- hosted a panel discussion on Olympic Village with Think City, and Simon Fraser University Segal Graduate School of Business. The PlanTalk event was moderated by noted journalist and blogger Frances Bula and the panel included Geoff Meggs (Vancouver City Councillor), Doug McArthur (sfu Graduate School of Public Policy), Nancy Knight (Associate Vice-President, University of British Columbia Campus and Community Planning), and Michael Geller (Planning Consultant, Architect & Developer). The panelists were selected for having been vocal about the Olympic Village development in the
RÉSUMÉ En février et mars 2010, Vancouver a accueilli les Jeux olympiques et paralympiques d’hiver. Afin de loger les quelques milliers d’athlètes participant aux Jeux, le Village olympique a été construit au sein d’un vaste développement bordant l’océan appelé le South East False Creek Development, et le Village olympique et paralympi- que aménagé au sud-est de False Creek. Cet emplacement privilégié, adjacent au centre-ville, permettait aux athlètes de se rendre facilement à pied ou en autobus jusqu’à la zone commerciale et au quartier des spectacles de Vancouver, ainsi que d’assister aux diverses cérémonies et célébrations culturelles qui se déroulaient au stade BC Place avoisinant. Le nouveau secteur s’inscrit dans un parcours long et parfois étourdissant, semé d’incertitudes financières et de remous politiques, et sali par une abon- dante publicité négative qui continue aujourd’hui. Le soir du mardi 22 février 2011, le pibc a parrainé et
coanimé un événement dont l’objectif était de discuter du maintenant légendaire Village olympique de Vancouver. Les membres du pibc Christine Callihoo et Alex Taylor ont participé à cette rencontre et préparé un sommaire de cet événement, attirant l’attention sur quelques-unes des leçons apprises.
p l an c ana da | summe r · étÉ 201 1
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