Golf course at risk

Langara plans to be part of consultation over land development

By STEVEN CHANG

The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation is now considering new development on the Langara Golf Course. Green Party commissioner Dave Demers, the park board vice chair, thinks the golf course has potential as a sport’s field, freshwater swimming location or more walking trails.

“There have been talks about considering golf courses that are owned by the park board in the city of Vancouver for partial development costs for housing,” Demers said. Any plans for housing development would be made by the City of Vancouver; plans for recreational development would be made by the park board.

Affordable housing in proximity to Langara College has been a longstanding issue for students.

The Langara, Fraserview, and McCleery golf courses total 464 acres, some 15 per cent of all park land under Park Board jurisdiction, according to park board minutes. The number of golfers using the three golf courses plunged by more than 31 per cent since the late 1990s, as the population of Vancouver has increased by 20 per cent.

The City of Vancouver is expected to start planning strategies in 2020. Langara College, which is not involved with the golf course, has no claim on the municipal land.

However, Langara’s facilities director Dwayne Doornbosch said it would provide feedback to the city as part of community consultations.

“Any recreational scape adjacent to the college would likely be popular with our community,” he said.

Maurizio Grande, a South Vancouver resident and owner of Marble Art Canada Ltd., uses the golf course 15 to 20 times a year.

“The course is meant for the public to use, and it has already been cut down in the past to build the college,” Grande said. “The fantasy to create a stadium for sports is just absurd. If the city is making money, then they should plant more trees and spend it on maintenance.”