Community Amenities
At East Fraser Lands, community amenities are delivered alongside the neighbourhood as it takes shape. Guided by long-term planning and ongoing collaboration with the City, each phase of development brings new parks, services, and shared spaces, ensuring the community grows with the people who live here.
Amenity Delivery
Over the past two decades, thousands of Vancouver residents have engaged in the planning for the future of the EFL community. Wesgroup is committed to continuing the successful development of a complete community at East Fraser Lands, including the delivery of much-needed community amenities to serve existing and future residents.
Since the 2006 ODP was adopted, East Fraser Lands (EFL) has been planned as a complete neighbourhood with a wide range of community amenities. Wesgroup has contributed development fees with each rezoning to help bring these facilities to life.
Community Centre
The 2006 ODP envisioned a community centre for cultural, recreational, and educational programs. Under the 2021 ODP updates, Wesgroup will deliver the community centre as part of the neighbourhood’s ongoing development. Learn more here.
Parks
The plan includes over 25 acres of park space, including a riverfront park with a greenway and bikeway. Two major neighbourhood parks — Kinross Park and Avalon Park — feature green space, water features for rainwater management, and connections to schools and playing fields. A section of Kinross Park was completed in 2021, with future phases continuing as the neighbourhood grows. The 2021 ODP updates add 2 more acres of park space.
Schools
Land has been set aside for an elementary school in Area 2 (0.44 ha) and a secondary school in Area 1 (0.57 ha). School construction, and operational timelines are managed by the Provincial Government and the Vancouver School Board.
Child Care
The 2006 ODP included 256 childcare spaces across at least four facilities, plus 140 out-of-school care spaces. The 2021 update added 20 new spaces, for a total of 276 spaces.
Affordable Housing
The plan requires 20% of all new homes to be affordable, with half designed for families. Wesgroup has met these targets in all rezoned areas and is also providing secured market rental homes, supporting Vancouver’s overall housing supply. The City will also add additional future affordable housing through strategic property purchases.
Parking
Throughout the development of East Fraser Lands, Wesgroup has delivered parking well-above City bylaw requirements to support the needs of River District residents and visitors. Providing additional parking helps ensure convenient access to homes, shops, services, and public spaces as the neighbourhood continues to grow.
Energy Centre
River District Energy (RDE) provides buildings with thermal energy for space heating and hot water, distributing hot water through an underground piping network across the River District community. With 99.9% reliability and virtually no outages, RDE has proven to be a sustainable and efficient energy solution that reduces overall consumption.
As a first in Western Canada, RDE is pioneering the use of waste heat recovery from a garbage incinerator, a groundbreaking approach that enhances energy efficiency.
In June 2025, the new permanent Energy Centre (EC) was completed and is now fully operational, replacing the previous temporary facilities. This modernized system serves the entire River District, supporting 55 buildings across 128 acres and 9.3 million square feet of development.
As both the developer and long-term operator of the Energy Centre, Wesgroup is committed to providing a reliable, cost-effective, and environmentally responsible energy solution for the River District community.
To learn more, please visit:
Community Centre
The Community Centre at River District remains a critical priority for Wesgroup and the City of Vancouver.
In 2022, Wesgroup assumed the responsibility of delivering the community centre – budgeted at $47 million. The estimated cost of delivery today is close to $60 million, due largely to an unprecedented increase in construction costs.
Additional Metro Vancouver Development Cost Charges introduced in 2023 have added nearly $70 million in costs to the masterplan not considered when the sources of funding for the community centre were negotiated, after scope and cost was determined by Wesgroup and the City in 2022.
Wesgroup and Staff have designed the interior space and progressed through the City’s Urban Design Panel, spending almost $3 million in costs to date.
Wesgroup and City Staff are working on the community centre daily and believe we soon will have a collective solution to this existing funding gap, which will get this critical community project back on track.
Wesgroup has been working hard on a parallel process with expert consultants to advance the design and submit detailed permits for the community centre so we’re ready to go once this issue is resolved. We’re almost there.
Waterfront
River District has been planned around one of its greatest assets: the Fraser River waterfront. As the community grows, new parks, greenways, public spaces, and ecological areas are being delivered to create a connected network of places to walk, cycle, play, and enjoy nature.
The master plan includes approximately 27 acres of parks and open space, with two north-south park corridors connecting Marine Way to the Fraser River. Together with the Fraser River Waterfront Greenway, these spaces provide accessible walking and cycling connections while restoring fish and wildlife habitat along the riverfront.
New parks and waterfront spaces are being delivered in phases alongside neighbourhood development, creating opportunities for recreation, gathering, and access to the waterfront for current and future residents.
