A "Complete" Neighbourhood in Chilliwack

Waves Coffee in the centre of the shopping area.

 There's lots of talk these days about "complete" neighbourhoods. The idea of being able to live, work and play within your neighbourhood. I expect people have different ideas as to what exactly that might look like.




I just spent the past few days at the annual SARscene conference (Search and Rescue) which was held at the RCMP Pacific Region Training Centre (PRTC) in Chilliwack, B.C. Just across the main street I discovered Garrison Crossing, what seems to me to be a complete neighbourhood.

The "hub" of the area (for lack of a better term) has a coffee shop, a grocery store, liquor store, restaurants (Subway, a pizza place, a nice Japanese restaurant, and a cozy little bistro), a running store, an outdoor gear store, a flower shop, dentist and medical offices, a hair salon, a liquor store, a candy store, and various others. Some of the business buildings are stand-alone and others have condos above them. The closest housing is more condos, then townhouses and single-family homes on small lots as you go further out. Although I'm sure they had to cut down some trees to put in the new buildings, it seems they've made a concerted effort to keep as many as they can as there are lots of large pine and others trees that have obviously been there for many years.

Looking towards the park. Leisure Centre on the other side of park.

At one end of the business area is a park and a leisure centre with swimming pool and other fitness facilities.

The busier streets on at least two sides of all this have bike lanes and . . . the best part??? The Vedder River is less than a 10 minute walk away bordering the other side of the PRTC grounds.

Beautiful, quiet and 7 km in length. I was able to get out and enjoy the paths every day. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to walk the whole 7 km and back as I would have loved to visit the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve which is at the other end of that 7 km. We'll definitely have to stop there next time we're through this area!  

If I had to live in Chilliwack, I think this is where I would be!