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I'm in a bit of a unique situation when it comes to an opportunity to live in Vancouver.
My husband and I and our two year old currently live in China. But his job is about to offer a commuting option (he is a pilot). He would be able to fly to Vancouver once or twice a month for about two weeks at a time. This means we have no real reason to live near to Vancouver International airport, or even on the mainland, for that matter. That offers a lot more flexibility in terms of deciding where to live.
Our Canadian friends here have all said that Vancouver island would be the best place to commute to. But I also know someone who has moved to the Gibsons and it looks equally gorgeous.
Can anyone tell me whether Gibsons in particular would be a good place to raise a family? Decent schools and so on? Or too quiet, no action, not much going on? Too many retired people? The real estate prices there are certainly much better than on the mainland and you can have a nice family house. And the ferry is not too long of a trip.
Husband is not too keen on the idea of taking a ferry for two hours after flying 12 hours from the other side of the globe. So I'm not sure whether it would be better to just live somewhere on the mainland like Coquitlam or Maple Ridge and forget about taking ferries. We want to live somewhere green and quiet and have a proper house, because after so many years of apartment living in such a densely populated place, we are incredibly tired of city life.
Any recommendations on where would be a good place to live that is also easy enough to get to?
Thanks in advance for this incredibly helpful forum.
If you've been living in apartments in a densely populated area of China for a long time I think Gibsons might be too isolated and too much culture shock for you as a place to start off in in a new country that you aren't accustomed to. I'd strongly recommend you visit the community first before deciding to reside there.
Gibsons is very beautiful and has a lot of really great things going for it but it's also a somewhat isolated, small, tightly-knit community of house-proud eco-environmentalists who are all thick with each other in their goals and objectives for the community. If you don't have a lot of experience with community eco-environmentalism and aren't prepared to do as all your neighbours (and community bylaws) expect of you to do, just like them, then you probably won't fit in and you won't be happy. However, if you're a couple of avid environmentalists who want to throw yourselves into participating in the eco-environment scene and get solidly involved with city and home improvement and beautification, community arts and culture and tourism and other community projects then it might be just your cup of tea. I'd suggest you fully read their official website below, check out their bylaws and studies and master plans for the town and get some idea of what kinds of community participation the town of Gibsons expects from all of its residents.
I think, at least for starting off, your husband is right about not settling in a place that requires him to depend on ferry services to and from Vancouver. If you're looking for places that are green and natural with lots of open spaces there are many other nice towns that are less congested within a one hour drive just outside of Vancouver throughout the lower mainland. Maple Ridge as you mentioned above is very nice and would be suitable, as would be Port Coquitlam, Port Moody and Pitt Meadows and all four of those communities have a lot of natural resources for recreation. Both Steveston in Richmond and Ladner in Delta, which are a lot closer to the airport, are lovely little touristy/artsy/crafty communities on the banks of the mouth of the Fraser River and are surrounded by lots of farmlands and wildlife reserves and open natural dikes and spaces to go walking and biking.
Hi Zoisite, that is some useful info about Gibsons and what kind of community lives there... I have read about the place but hadn't heard that side of the story before! It's good to know.
Richmond and Steveston were on my radar but we are both concerned about flood risk since they are only 1 metre above sea level! So ideally we'd like to live away from the Fraser River and be slightly more elevated to avoid that risk. Might sound silly or paranoid but hey, we want to own a home and don't want it to all be destroyed in a bad bout of flooding or, in the case of an earthquake, a tsunami risk too.
Out of the areas you mentioned -- Maple Ridge, Poco, Port Moody and Pitt Meadows -- which area do you think is the most diverse?
Before I can offer an opinion on that I think you'll need to explain more about what you're looking for in the way of diversity for your family. Each of those towns have unique things to offer so what does diversity mean to you? Are you thinking about diversity of other people in those towns and the cultural or racial demographics, or employment opportunities, or available amenities and services, recreational facilities, real estate, shopping malls and businesses, natural settings and closeness to wildlife, etc. ???
Mostly diversity of people..... it's one of the things we enjoy about expat life -- meeting so many people from all over the world. So I imagine the further east you go the more homogenous it gets? (Also we want to avoid the 'bible belt' areas, ha!)
White Rock seems nice, not too far from the airport. Townhouses seem affordable-ish.
Husband likes the idea of Maple Ridge, living so close to Golden Ears Provincial Park.
Richmond and Steveston were on my radar but we are both concerned about flood risk since they are only 1 metre above sea level! So ideally we'd like to live away from the Fraser River and be slightly more elevated to avoid that risk. Might sound silly or paranoid but hey, we want to own a home and don't want it to all be destroyed in a bad bout of flooding or, in the case of an earthquake, a tsunami risk too.
If flooding and earthquake are concerns for you then forget everything on the north side of the Fraser River and most of the Fraser Valley. The only parts of the lower mainland that are at the least risk of those events, and that still have a diversity of people, would be on the south side of the Fraser River where there is slightly high elevation but no big rivers or hills/mountains - i.e. north Surrey, Langley, Aldergrove, west Abbotsford. Those areas are still vulnerable to soil liquifaction if there's a bad earthquake though. Anywhere else near rivers, streams, lakes, ocean shorelines or near hills, foothills and mountains are at risk from occasional high flooding and mud-slides, rock-slides, avalanches. For that matter, pretty much anywhere in British Columbia is at risk from those things at any given time of the year. Also seasonal wild fires during the spring to autumn droughts, and Pacific typhoons in autumn and winter.
Do you think this is not a big concern? I.e. we shouldn't worry about it? Because Richmond isn't looking so bad to me but if all it takes is a bit of a rise..... I've tried researching it but it does seem that almost everywhere along the Fraser is flood prone. But how much of a problem is it really? From your own experience?
This kind of website has me a bit worried when it comes to figuring out where to buy....
Richmond has a lot going for it but of all places in the lower mainland to choose from I personally wouldn't want to live anywhere on Lulu Island because of it being a very flat, silty river delta island. Lulu Island is the very lowest elevation of the entire lower mainland and has no high ground anywhere on it, it's flat as a pancake. It's well dyked and ditched but parts of it are at or below sea level and if there was a really, really bad flood or earthquake I wouldn't expect either Lulu Island or Sea Island (the airport) to fair well. But there's been no great disasters to date and there's lots of people that live there without concerns and the city is booming. I don't think flooding would be as big a concern in other parts of the lower mainland as it might be on Lulu island and any other island in the Fraser River basin. I imagine you've already seen this but I'll post the link anyway. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lulu_Island
Because of the mountainous geography and the thousands of lakes and rivers in BC, the rain forests and seasonal spring rains and snow-melt run-off, and the autumn/winter typhoons, flooding and slides are always a potential risk in all parts of the entire province including over on Vancouver Island. But those are hazards that just come with the territory and most British Columbians are prepared to take them in stride. The buildings and infrastructures in the province are constructed to be prepared for those potential hazards and to deal with them as best as possible if they happen.
I live in Maple Ridge and I prefer it over all other locations in the lower mainland. I don't think you would go wrong with it if your family is big on enjoying close by nature, the outdoors and natural recreation. And it's a nice town with all amenities and plenty of community events, not a bible belt town but a good variety of places of worship and the towns people are all nice. But MR might be a bit more homogenous than what you are looking for if you want a huge amount of ethnic diversity in people such as what you'd find in Vancouver or Richmond. At a guess I'd say that at least 70 - 75% of the population in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows is of white European descent and the rest of the population is a mix of many other ethnicities and races from all over the world.
I really appreciate your detailed responses, Zoisite. And glad to hear that you like living in Maple Ridge. I've asked some Canadians here in Hong Kong and they have never even heard of Maple Ridge. Not even the people who grew up in New Westminster or Burnaby have ever been to Maple Ridge! They make it sound like it is the boondocks. I suppose the only way to really know is to visit a place and check it out for yourself. Unfortunately I didn't make it to MR last year. But the real estate prices sure seem a lot better and there is so hope to own a detached home.
Out of curiosity, do you commute into downtown Vancouver for work? It's quite a drive, right?
I live in white Rock and it's is truly lovely with less than half the rain of downtown Vancouver.
It's expensive but so is everywhere in Greater Vancouver. WR is convenient for trips to Seattle and getting to the airport is surprisingly easy as all the buses go straight to the Canada Line subway which from the drop off point is only 5 minutes to YVR. The buses leave every 15 minutes all day and are VERY fast due to taking the freeway and HOV lanes. It's far faster to take the bus to YVR in rush hour than it is to drive. There are also a lot of extra rush hour buses.
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