A development application that would give a new look to Ladner Village will be going to a public hearing.
Delta council has given preliminary approval to a two-and-a-half-storey mixed commercial and residential building at 4868 and 4872 Delta St.
If approved, two one-storey commercial buildings, one of which is a heritage building currently home to a barber shop, would be demolished and replaced.
The historic structure at 4868 Delta Street is on Delta’s heritage inventory but is unnamed, simply listed as a commercial building circa 1918. It’s noted as a structure with a boom town façade in an early commercial settlement in Ladner.
The site is between two significant heritage buildings: McCrea’s Pool Hall and Delta’s second municipal hall.
The development site is also bounded by a newer two-storey commercial building to the south and a vacant site to the north, for which council has approved a development permit for a two-and-a half-storey retail-residential building that has yet to be constructed.
Much of council’s discussion on the application focused not on the loss of the heritage structure but on a potential lack of parking. Council was told the project would be marketed as only coming with one parking stall per unit.
The Corporation of Delta is undertaking a review of the parking situation in downtown Ladner and recently took drone footage looking at the parking turnover within the village. CAO George Harvie noted times change and that Delta may need to come up with a new parking strategy.
Saying no matter what is done there will never be enough commercial parking, Coun. Bruce McDonald noted the three-hour limit within most of the village core combined with ample parking at nearby Memorial Park likely means the problem isn’t that serious.
Council will get a separate staff report on the parking situation in the village.
