Chamber says city will need to work with developers to fit Cabela's into Seven Big Ideas

Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce executive director Allan Asaph says the proposed Cabela’s development fits well with the City’s goal of attracting more commerce and jobs to the area.

He says now the task is to figure out how it can fit in with the Abbotsforward Official Community Plan update.

“Now the challenge for the city will be to integrate the rest of that development in with what it wants to see in terms of the mix between residential and commercial within the city. I think this is a great opportunity for our planning department to really start to work with the developer and make this a truly unique situation.”

At the recent public hearing about half of the speakers felt the development went against the City’s vision for growth as stated in OCP  review’s Seven Big Ideas.

Several pointed out that having a massive box store with large parking lots was at odds with the City’s vision of creating more walkable communities.

Asaph says that’s an example of how where the city planners need to work with the developers to make this work with those Big Ideas.

“When we look at the development of the streets in the area, how do you integrate it so you make it more people friendly. I know one of the things in the plan that they’ve identified for example is that there is a need to create some connection between Salton avenue and McCallum. This is great opportunity for them to create more public access to get from that neighborhood out to where the transportation exists on McCallum.”

Council will vote on third reading of rezoning and amending the OCP next meeting.