For those of us who long for the old-fashioned community where all the action took place on front porches and lawns, where everyone looked out for all the kids, where you could walk everywhere and know all your neighbours, it's tough to imagine why some people wouldn't want that.

Way up here, in Canada, there's a small community of 22,000 called Tsawwassen.

Tsawwassen (prounouned Ta-wa-sen and meaning facing the sea) is pretty small. It's also a bit sleepy and somewhat set in it's ways.

Of the 22,000 a good portion are over 50 and, being a peninsula, there is little room to accommodate many more people.

People who live in Tsawwassen really like it. It's surrounded by ocean on 2 sides, Point Roberts, WA on a 3rd and connected to the rest of the Lower Mainland (Metro Vancouver area) on the 4th. 

It's a very safe community where people know each other and don't lock their doors. The kids play hockey on the streets and come home when the street lights go on. It's pretty. It's calm. It's safe and it's dying. 

Over the last 20 years this community has seen a 4% decrease in population. The result of which is school closures, reduced retail, amenities such as the bowling alley and the movie theatre have closed down due to lack of population support.

What's worse is, the people living here are all aging with few young families able to afford the ever-increasing property prices. (a 3 bedroom home averages over $500,000 +)

Luckily for Tsawwassen a local developer, a man who grew up in the town and lives in it with his family, could envision a way to increase the population, improve infrastructure all while providing locally-grown food, and a sustainable community plan.

With help from famed smart growth planner, Andres Duany, and a group of 24 residents the developer worked for 2 years to come up with a proposal that would see 1/3rd of the land used for small-scale farming, a 1/3rd given back to the municipality for parks, trails and old-growth forest, and a final 1/3rd for multi-use residential/retail. 

On first blush it's pretty tough to see why people wouldn't want such a development in their community. It seems to engulf all the things that a community would want. New growth. Public-use lands. Locally grown produce. A walkable neighbourhood. 

Unfortunately not everyone shared the vision. 

The city of Vancouver, who oversees several communities including Tsawwassen, would love this plan. It encompasses everything the city is trying to accomplish in it's run for The Greenest City on Earth by 2020. (you can actually read about all the amazing aspects of the plan on their site here)

However, the city of Vancouver has never seen the plan. It's been held up at the municipal level by a council who fear that support of the project would put their careers in jeopardy. Of the 7 members of Delta Mayor and Council (including the Mayor) not one person has been willing to champion the project that would see approximately 200 acres given (GIVEN) back to the community. Pressure from a small group of individuals has caused so much mis-information and mis-direction that no one on Council feels safe. 

While I hesitate to use the word NIMBY (not in my backyard) it is accurately descriptive of the group that have been putting pressure on council. In an effort to thwart the proposal this group have verbally interrupted council and committee debates. They've organized rallies and petitions that mis-direct the issues and try to paint the developer in a negative light. But, more telling, are the tactics they have used with council.

Delta Council has a long history of abrogating their responsibilities. As such, it didn't take much cajoling by the naysayers to convince them to shelve the project. This small group have some political clout among their ranks and have made it clear that anyone who stands for the Southlands project will be in for a tough time come the municipal elections. They have some history of supporting candidates who will keep Tsawwassen as it is, no growth. 

Building a sustainable culture is not easy. It takes enormous planning and attention to every detail. From ecology to LEED best practices, planning is crucial. But perhaps just as important is education of our government officials. They have a lot to do in their role and educating themselves on the necessity for smart growth may not always been high on a list that includes zoning and school fund allocation. 

How can we help them to see that the long-term benefits of smart growth outweigh the short term agendas of the current residents who believe that their backyard is no place for any sort of growth? 

If you've been involved with such a project and had issues around public pressure I would love to hear your thoughts on how to help the community to realize that growth is coming regardless of their resistance and that having a say in how their community grows and how it can be sustainable for future generations is a far better option than what's been done for the last 50 years.