In response to intense public interest in our Southlands development, Century Group has launched a new quarterly series of project updates aimed at keeping the public informed on what’s happening as the development unfolds.

Southlands Updates will be published in the Delta Optimist on a quarterly basis, with the first edition running Friday, 14 October 2016. Below is the content of the first iteration. Print-ready version

CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
This past July, Delta Council gave fourth and final reading to the Southlands plan, granting approval for Century Group to begin work on this new community. It marked the culmination of more than a decade of intensive collaborative community planning, and opened the door to initiate site preparation for the development.

Since August, site servicing work has begun on and around Southlands, starting with the building of a construction vehicle access road at 56 Street. This road created a construction staging area in the middle of the property, rather than along the periphery, which helps to minimize traffic disruptions. The access road and staging area are being used to haul in granular fill. A new road that will connect 56 Street with the Southlands Market District is currently being constructed.

In mid-September, construction work began on a new sanitary sewer force main on Boundary Bay Road. Currently, the Boundary Bay sanitary system is running beyond its intended design capacity. The sanitary improvement project will replace a half century old asbestos-concrete force main that services Boundary Bay, increasing the capacity of the sewer main. The main sewer pipe and pump system will also be upgraded. Directional drilling along Gillespie Road in Beach Grove is currently underway for a force main that will connect to the Gillespie Road Pump Station. A section of sanitary sewer on Gillespie Road (between Vardon and 16^th Avenue) is not suitable for directional drilling, so excavation is occurring in that section of roadway. The road section will be completely repaved once work is done. By mid-November, the sanitary improvement project along Boundary Bay Road is expected to be completed. Granular fill will continue to be imported to the Southlands site via 56th Street through 2017. A new water connection from the Pebble Hill reservoir down 4th Avenue is expected to start in early 2017.

STATUS OF EARTHWISE GARDEN
The area on Southlands leased by Earthwise Society for $1 per year is not being significantly altered, consistent with our assurances to the community and to Earthwise. However, the temporary Earthwise Farm that is not part of the lease is located right where work will commence soon on the new Southlands Market Square.

FARMING ACTIVITY
The majority of the Southlands land will be used for agriculture and local food production. The plan will transfer 80% of Southlands’ private land (430 acres) to the Municipality of Delta, of which approximately 300 acres is farmland of various quality and condition. The balance of approximately 130 acres of land is dedicated for new public parks and natural habitat areas.

Century Group is also leasing back 50 acres of agricultural land adjacent to the development to activate various forms of small-scale agriculture use, including the future Earthwise Farm component. A $9 million Agricultural Fund contributed by Century Group to the Corporation of Delta will help fund both drainage and irrigation improvements on site to enhance and newly activate farmland. We are working cooperatively with Delta to ensure that our servicing work complements the design of these improvements to the farm areas.

HOMES AT SOUTHLANDS
Information regarding the home types at Southlands will be available by late 2017. Century Group anticipates the first release of homes will be a mix of cottages, townhomes and single-family homes. As we prepare to create a new presentation centre for the Southlands community, the Cottage Courtyard display at Tsawwassen Town Centre Mall has closed indefinitely. Construction on the first phase of homes at Southlands is anticipated to begin mid- 2018 with homes ready for occupancy by mid-2019. For now, Century Group will focus on completing site servicing work that will continue through 2017.