VANCOUVER — A group of international urban land experts are offering advice on how Vancouver and TransLink can avoid repeating mistakes made along the Canada Line when it comes time to build the new Broadway rapid transit system.

A five-member ai???Governorai??i??s Advisory Panelai??? from the Urban Land Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based group, will study the proposed Broadway corridor route next week from Commercial Drive to the University of B.C., and offer suggestions on the impact of where stations are located.

That assessment is critical if the city is to properly plan for how the new line will fit into established neighbourhoods, Vancouver architect Alan Boniface, the chairman of the B.C. chapter of ULI, said Friday.

People have to look no further than the Canada Line to understand why proper planning in advance of a major development is necessary, he said. The Canada Line, as important and useful as it has become, was built before Vancouver had adopted a plan for development along the route. As a result, Boniface said, developers and land speculators drove a lot of the density decisions.

ai???If you drive down Cambie today, you will see strips of seven and eight houses in a row for sale, and four to seven-storey buildings going up near Oakridge,ai??? he said.

ai???For a city that prides itself on city-making, it is a pathetic history of not doing the appropriate thing on Cambie. Broadway is a critical street, and we need to think about it ahead of time.ai???

Boniface said the Canada Line stations at 49th Avenue and King Edward Avenue, built in the middle of single-family neighbourhoods, stand as examples of poor planning. The Marpole neighbourhood near the 49th Ave. station sharply criticized the cityai??i??s plans for densification, and late last year Mayor Gregor Robertsonai??i??s council backed off on a plan to rezone swaths of the area. That, Boniface said, is a classic reason for why the city and TransLink need to better plan transit routes.

The ULIai??i??s membership is made up of architects, planners, developers and real estate experts. It uses a $1 million fund to send governorsai??i?? advisory panels to select cities around the world to comment on land use and planning issues. This is the first time a panel has come to Canada, and it was invited by its B.C. chapter.

Vancouver council has been lobbying hard for the Broadway line. TransLink, which has other funding priorities, has made no decision. In 2012, Vancouver laid out an argument for a $2.8 billion underground rapid transit line along the Broadway corridor that included nearly a dozen stations between Commercial and UBC.

The group, which arrives Monday, is paying its own way and is not connected with any of the proponents of the route. It will meet with various stakeholders, including the city, TransLink, UBC, two neighbourhood associations and three neighbourhood business improvement associations. The panel will produce an interim public report on Thursday before its departure, and issue a final report to the groups within two months, Boniface said.

On the thorny question of what kind of technology the line should use ai??i?? SkyTrain, light rail, subway or bus ai??i?? the ULI panel will be silent. Boniface said it may lightly look at whether it should be underground or above grade, but the main purpose is to examine where stations might go and what the impact they would have on neighbourhoods.

ai???Really, whether it is above ground or below, or even partly one or the other, there will be stations and those stations will have significant real estate impact,ai??? he said. ai???Unlike the Canada Line, we need to think about that now. We need to make sure there is an economic analysis of the reality of the potential density around these places, so that we donai??i??t end up with tower speculation rampant on the west side of Vancouver for sites that will never exist.ai???

The ULIai??i??s governorsai??i?? advisory panels have been influential in other cities, where such advice is not taken lightly, according to Gordon Price, the director of Simon Fraser Universityai??i??s City Program.

ai???It helps to have the point of view of people who donai??i??t come with all the local perspective and baggage,ai??? said Price, who is also a member of ULI. He described the groupai??i??s international panels as ai???helicopter criticsai??? who offer advice without having vested interests.

ai???You might come up with some great ideas and insights, and you get stuff into the public realm, the discussion, that a lot of people, politicians, planners, probably wouldnai??i??t want to get out there because they are concerned about the potential blowback.ai???

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