Two decades of change: Abbotsford

This is one of a series of articles using satellite imagery to chart the changing face of Fraser Valley communities—and the land on which they sit. These images are best seen using a computer or tablet. You can click each image for a larger version.

If you want to learn about how to use online tools to explore changes across the Fraser Valley, please become an Insider Member. When the series concludes, Tyler will give members a step-by-step guide to how they can use the same techniques to survey changes in their neighbourhood, or across the world. Become an Insider here.

Abbotsford has grown tremendously over the last 20 years. And yet, compared to its neighbours to the east and west, that growth has seemed less transformative.

Change has been evident both on the ground and in the sky. But the community’s structure remains oriented around familiar areas—and the patterns of life and of politics in the city have yet to see the transformation witnessed elsewhere in the valley. That is despite the fact that, of all the Fraser Valley communities, the City of Abbotsford and its politicians have been the most vocal about the need to transform the city’s growth trajectory, re-orienting it towards existing neighbourhoods, rather than sprawl.

Highstreet/West Abbotsford

The intense growth that took place in Western Abbotsford is decades old now, with most neighbourhoods pre-existing the above 2004 image. But new developments have filled in gaps in the meantime, while the construction of HighStreet provided a new shopping destination in the city. Its construction coincided with improvements to the highway interchange.

The next phase of growth will be seen in the construction of new apartments in the area, including immediately to the north of HighStreet as residential density finally arrives to the area. Major new industrial projects are also in the works north of the Fraser Valley Auto Mall.

South Fraser Way

Since 2009, Abbotsford’s South Fraser Way-centric core has seen a handful of large projects. The La Galleria apartment complex in the west, combined with the construction of a huge new courthouse, transformed the look of Trethewey Way corridor. In the centre of town, an aging mobile home park was replaced by pricey townhouses. And along Gladwin Road, at the very top of the image, new several new multi-use buildings have sprung up.

More is coming, with aging homes cleared and set to be replaced by a new high-rise complex. But when the city adopted its new Official Community Plan, a key part of the vision was the replacement of the massive mall parking lots along South Fraser Way. That’s yet to happen.

Downtown Abbotsford

The evolution of downtown has also been gradual—though it’s fair to say much of it has not been visible from space.

At the north edge of the downtown, the Clayburn Brick Plant was torn down and, after its property sat vacant for several years, is being replaced by hundreds of townhomes and apartments. That’s likely to increase the vibrancy in a place that has already had a considerable ground-level makeover over the past decade.

Within the downtown, the biggest changes have been the creation of a large new apartment building in the centre of the area, and the reconfiguration of Jubilee Park that saw the addition of pickleball courts and parking lots at the expense of the lawn bowling club’s facility and green space. On the right side of the image, you can see the newly built head offices for the Mennonite Central Committee and Corrections Services Canada.

Gravel

Some changes are best seen from space though. In the western part of the city, massive gravel operations continue on agricultural land. Although mining on farmland seems counterproductive, the Agricultural Land Commission allows the activity because operators promise to improve the gravelly properties over their pre-mine state. And the images do show how gravel operations move over time. At the bottom and left of the image, three gravel sites have become active farm properties. At the north end, meanwhile, a previously farmed property has finally been turned over to the gravel miners.

McKee Peak

The future of McKee Peak and Sumas Mountain has been a hot topic the last two years in Abbotsford. Satellite images show the area has already seen considerable change since 2005, though much more is likely in the years to come.

Building on Eagle Mountain, at the southwest extent of Sumas Mountain’s flanks has mostly wrapped up. On McKee Peak, though, development was minimal throughout the last 15 years, though the centre circles confirms how the area’s forest hasn’t escaped unscathed. On the bottom right side of the image, Sema:th First Nation’s increasing use of its small reserve is visible. Up on the mountain, meanwhile, gravel operations expanded and were made easier by the creation of a new access road.

Matsqui Prairie

Along with Sumas Praire, Matsqui Prairie north of Abbotsford’s urban area has some of the country’s most productive agricultural land. The price of that land has increased dramatically in the past year, but it continues to be used for high-intensity farming. Aerial images show an important development, though: In the last 15 years, the number of greenhouses has boomed.

The massive greenhouse operations have been some of the largest buildings constructed anywhere in the Fraser Valley, with some running into the hundreds of thousands of square feet.

In the top-left of the image, the expanding JAMES wastewater treatment plant can be seen.

Sumas Prairie

The flooding of November 2021 will be remembered for decades and continue to have a massive impact on peoples lives. But from the air at least, the prairie can look much the same as it did before the Nooksack burst its banks.

Still, the damage and changes are evident if you know where to look. More than six months after the dike protecting the area burst its banks, a scar—and water—was still visible. Elsewhere on the prairie, formerly immaculate fields showed signs of the wear and tear of the previous year’s floods. Meanwhile, Trans Mountain began major pipeline work, leaving a new scar on the prairie.

We will take a closer look at the collapsed dike and the changing geographic landforms of the valley later in this series.