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Public Amenities

With residential development comes the need for community services. Activities such as daycare, preschool or other social amenity can be accommodated at appropriate locations on the site.

Access to the water’s edge will provide new opportunities for community activities and should be considered in the design of buildings and adjacent open spaces.

Provision has been made in the urban design to allow and be able to accommodate community–related uses to occupy ground level spaces in buildings adjacent to parks, public open spaces, and nodes of activity such as street intersections and corners.

The waterfront will consist of a series of waterside features linked by rights–of–way providing permanent public access. Hard–surfaced pathways, wooden boardwalks, bridges, and tidal shelf habitat enhancement along the water’s edge will be built in stages as the adjacent upland area is developed.  Detailed design of the various portions includes consultation with the District of Squamish during design and prior to construction.

Seen as an integral part of a coordinated and linked open-space network, the dedicated public parks conform to the required formula dictated by provincial and District statute.  But beyond this quantitative measure, the parks are augmented and enhanced by their adjacencies and proximity to the waterfront and private landscaped open space.  By being able to design both public and private parks, gardens, courtyards and rights-of-way, the design team has been able to expand and enhance the physical and experiential impact of the park network. 

Streets and the open spaces adjacent to them represent a substantial portion of the public domain. While often seen as a necessary evil, the street is also a truly public place, available for anyone’s use, anytime, for free (except for taxes).  In the Urban Design of Ocean's Gateway, the street is considered as more than simply a thoroughfare for drivers and their automobiles. 

The ability of the streets to accommodate vehicle, pedestrian, and bicycle movement, as well as to allow social interaction (meeting, talking, playing, etc.) is widely acknowledged. While not replacing dedicated park space, the streets, with their trees, planting, lighting, sitting places, and general activity can be interesting and lively public places and contribute to the positive life of a neighbourhood and the city.

It is for these reasons that streets and their adjacent open spaces are considered a valuable part of the public amenities of Ocean's Gateway. Many aspects of the Urban Design have been influenced by the desire to foster a street life rather than allow streets to sever the life of the neighbourhood.

The single most important element in Ocean's Gateway is its namesake. The meeting of land and water affords numerous opportunities for making places for both public and private enjoyment.  Boardwalks on piled structures; floating docks; gravel pathways; paved walkways and bike paths and urban sidewalks, will lead people to and along the water.

Cultural expression through visual art is a critical element of civilized urban life. The incorporation of public art is an integral part of the urban design of Ocean's Gateway.

Specific locations are identified as being potentially important and significant sites for public artworks. The acquisition and provision of public art is the subject of separate processes at the municipal and district level as well as a potential issue for consideration during development permitting phases of the various development projects that will form this master-planned community.

At the scale of Ocean's Gateway, there are opportunities to make a significant network of a variety of open-space experiences. Along with an anticipated peninsula open-space plan, the ideas of special continuity, visual relief and the recreation and expression of natural systems underlie the open space design.