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A shopping mall planned for an eight-hectare site near Abbotsford`s Mount Lehman interchange will be a major retail draw for Fraser Valley residents, according to the city`s mayor.
However, environmentalists see the development as the start of a trend that will see green space paved and sprawl spreading up the Fraser Valley along the Trans-Canada Highway as a consequence of the provincial government`s expansion of the highway and doubling of the Port Mann Bridge`s capacity.
"The potential regional draw for that centre is enormous," Abbotsford Mayor George Peary said in an interview about the $170-million, 600,000-square-foot Shape Properties development, dubbed Abby Lane.
"It`s huge and it`s got amazing freeway access. I think this will be the largest mall in the region. It will be relatively easy for people to get there from Langley, Chilliwack and Mission. Millions travel that freeway and they`re all potential customers."
Opponents of commercial sprawl say the new plaza is an example of the type of retail they expect will pop up all along the highway because of the provincial government`s Gateway Program to add lanes to Highway 1 and double the size of the bridge.
"They`re going to sprawl all the way out to Chilliwack," Cathleen Vecchiato of the Fraser Valley Conservation Coalition said in an interview. "It [the expansion] is just putting more people into their cars."
Vecchiato, a Langley resident, said the planned highway and bridge expansion is fuelling a lot of development proposals, a trend she feels is short-sighted.
She said Abby Lane won`t be the last of its type. She fears that a "big green section" along the highway in Langley and Abbotsford will see more development. "Once it [the highway and bridge expansion] goes in, it will be an excuse to build more."
But Peary sees the shopping mall as another sign that his city is coming of age. He noted that approximately 400,000 people visit the Fraser Valley Trade and Exhibition Centre (Tradex) each year and another 500,000 people fly through Abbotsford International Airport.
Read the full article here.
However, environmentalists see the development as the start of a trend that will see green space paved and sprawl spreading up the Fraser Valley along the Trans-Canada Highway as a consequence of the provincial government`s expansion of the highway and doubling of the Port Mann Bridge`s capacity.
"The potential regional draw for that centre is enormous," Abbotsford Mayor George Peary said in an interview about the $170-million, 600,000-square-foot Shape Properties development, dubbed Abby Lane.
"It`s huge and it`s got amazing freeway access. I think this will be the largest mall in the region. It will be relatively easy for people to get there from Langley, Chilliwack and Mission. Millions travel that freeway and they`re all potential customers."
Opponents of commercial sprawl say the new plaza is an example of the type of retail they expect will pop up all along the highway because of the provincial government`s Gateway Program to add lanes to Highway 1 and double the size of the bridge.
"They`re going to sprawl all the way out to Chilliwack," Cathleen Vecchiato of the Fraser Valley Conservation Coalition said in an interview. "It [the expansion] is just putting more people into their cars."
Vecchiato, a Langley resident, said the planned highway and bridge expansion is fuelling a lot of development proposals, a trend she feels is short-sighted.
She said Abby Lane won`t be the last of its type. She fears that a "big green section" along the highway in Langley and Abbotsford will see more development. "Once it [the highway and bridge expansion] goes in, it will be an excuse to build more."
But Peary sees the shopping mall as another sign that his city is coming of age. He noted that approximately 400,000 people visit the Fraser Valley Trade and Exhibition Centre (Tradex) each year and another 500,000 people fly through Abbotsford International Airport.
Read the full article here.