Departure Bay's arrival into the 21st century: A re-imagining of the Departure Bay neighbourhood commercial centre

This major project addresses a link between the academic experience and professional practice by creating a Vision Plan for Departure Bay in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Departure Bay is often called the ‘Gem of Nanaimo’ for it’s pristine natural beauty and prime location, however for the last few decades this gem has lost its shine. The proposed vision for Departure Bay focuses on the Neighbourhood Commercial Center (NCC) to re-imagine a vision in line with today’s current planning practices. The vision plan will be used to explore the typical processes that a development permit application would go through to prepare a Development Permit. This vision plan for Departure Bay’s NCC has been created through information gained on the history, culture, and daily life in the Departure Bay neighbourhood. Using a literature review, interviews with local stakeholders, and a comparative context analysis of the City’s NCCs this project aims to create a rationale for the decisions made throughout the preparation of the Vision Plan. A key outcome of the major project is a Vision Plan, supported with a full urban design context analysis, schematic development plans, renderings, and a property cost acquisition analysis. Thesis/Major project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Community Planning in the Department of Community Planning, Faculty of Social Sciences https://viurrspace.ca/bitstream/handle/10613/23386/CroftProject.pdf?sequence=3