Security measures for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics have thrown a damper over development plans for Southeast False Creek, which is the planned site of the Olympic Village.


False Creek redevelopment area (Courtesy: City of
Vancouver)
The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) and the RCMP want to prohibit developers from beginning construction on private lands within a designated "security envelope" until after the Olympics.

The owners of the land say that means their plans would be kept on hold until at least 2011 – for projects that they're ready to break ground on now.

They say they have been waiting years for the city to settle on a plan for the former industrial site.

But now, just weeks after the re-development plan was approved – Olympic organizers and the RCMP have told the city that several parcels of land within the envelope can't be developed now because security is paramount.

Kim Maust, the vice president of Bastion Development, speaks for a number of the private land owners. And she says she's hopeful the two sides can come up with a compromise solution – by shifting the security boundary.

"We know the mayor and council are supportive of the owners and their efforts to have that boundary line moved about 75 to 100 feet from the south side of 1st Avenue allowing that side to actually go ahead and actually build," she says.

"We understand that there's a need for Olympic security and we're willing to work with the RCMP and VANOC to meet that need. But we simply ask that we're able to build and utilize our properties in the interim."

Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell has scheduled a meeting with VANOC, the RCMP and the private developers. But the RCMP maintain security not profit will determine the outcome.