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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021 BCBUSINESS 47 ADAM BLASBERG bus loop and the start point of a rapid-bus line, and it only makes sense to go higher and reduce parking, he adds. The MST coalition is also planning a dif- ferent approach, using its unique position to shake up the standard development formula. It doesn't intend to operate on the same profit and performance model as other private developers. MST projects will have to comply with city zoning and per- mitting policies, but the three groups have indicated that they're willing to combine land uses previously seen as incompatible. One outcome: they may go higher on below- market housing numbers than the usual 20 percent that's the requirement for major developments in Vancouver. Even though the MST projects will be subject to city rules, Indigenous developers probably won't see the same protracted delays that are often the norm with other efforts. City governments will have an incentive to demonstrate that they're trying to achieve some bit of rec- onciliation with Indigenous Peoples. That ability to move faster increases the poten- tial size and influence of Indigenous devel- opments, given that so many other builders are finding themselves hamstrung by the erratic votes of city councils everywhere from Vancouver to Port Moody to the Dis- trict of North Vancouver. One other element the new develop- ments promise to bring to the region: a visible Indigenous element to design. The Musqueam's Lel ' m development, whose first phase is almost built, reflects that. "We're trying to brand and get our history and our culture out there," Sparrow says. The Willingdon project has even more, he notes: "It has a whole First Nations cul- tural centre in there, a theatre, a walk path with our history." But some of it will depend on behind- the-scenes negotiations with the province on the terms of land development. Spar- row says there are continuing tussles over what kinds of property transfer or other taxes bands and nations have to pay—tussles that can shape how viable and affordable the developments will be. It's frustrating. "We want to be known as good partners and respectful neighbours where we're going to potentially develop," Sparrow says. "But it's taken us so long to get these lands back. Now [the province is] asking for all these breaks." n