A Port Moody resident and the city's former director of planning, Eric Vance has been honoured by the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) with a spot among its prestigious College of Fellows.
Vance was one of only seven planners across Canada who received the honour in recognition of their contribution to their professional practices, teaching and mentoring planners, research and community service.
Not one to seek out the spotlight for himself, Vance said he was most pleased that his hometown was recognized as a well-planned city.
"I thought the cool part was that Port Moody got mentioned… as a place where there was some good planning going on," he said.
Vance's early career was in management consulting before his tenure as PoMo's director of planning from 1992 to ’95, marking the beginning of the transformation of Inlet Centre from brown fields to the bustling neighbourhoods of Newport Village, Klahanie and Suter Brook.
The next big wave of development is one Vance has been anticipating for some time.
When he started as PoMo's director of planning 25 years ago, Vance recalls incorporating plans for the imminent rapid transit line into the city's plans; now that it's finally here, it's going "spark the potential for more development," he said.
"You can see it coming with Coquitlam, in Burquitlam/Lougheed, City Centre, and I think you'll see more development in Port Moody as well. The Evergreen [Extension] is a big game changer."
It's also bound to continue the Tri-Cities' long-running shift from sleepy suburbia to an urban centre, with the kind of growth that poses a new set of challenges for planners.
"Heritage Mountain is completely built out, Newport is finished, Klahanie. Planning in the future will be through the redevelopment of existing areas," Vance said. "That's very challenging because it's disruptive — there are existing people, buildings and businesses in these areas."
Since 1995, Vance has been the principal of Eric Vance and Associates, Planning and Management Consultants, continuing to work with the cities of PoMo and Coquitlam on a wide range of projects, including PoMo's last four official community plans.
Vance has also consulted with several other public and private sector organizations across Canada and within Metro Vancouver, some of which have been clients for many years, according to a release from the CIP.
"Eric is a passionate advocate for advancing planning knowledge and practice, and he does this through a variety of roles," the release said, including as a frequent speaker at planning conferences.
Vance is an adjunct professor in the planning program in the School of Resource and Environmental Management at SFU and was a longtime adjunct professor in the School of Community and Regional Planning at UBC.
He has also served as a leader in the planning profession on ethical principles, serving two terms on the Planning Institute of BC Council and establishing the first mentoring program and professional practice review committee.
Vance was inducted into the CIP's College of Fellows, the highest honour a planner in Canada can receive, at a ceremony in July.
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