A complex land deal that should win the City of North Vancouver a brand-new, disaster-proof public works yard was approved by council Monday night.
The necessary rezoning bylaws and official community plan amendments passed second and third reading by a 5-1 vote following a public hearing that while well attended, attracted only three residents to the microphone.
Under the agreement, Darwin Properties will purchase the vacant 3.9-acre former Home Oil site at 61 Bewicke Ave. from its previous owner and build a new operations centre for the city on it. The facility will meet modern seismic and energy efficiency standards as well as the operations department's need for increased office, storage and workshop space. The land and new buildings are worth roughly $30 million.
Once the new centre is complete in approximately two years, city operations will move into the new yard, vacating their current site, due north across Mosquito Creek at 720 West Second St. This land, 3.6 acres, will pass to Darwin, along with permission to construct two five-storey and two six-storey residential buildings on top of an underground parking level, creating 375 homes totalling 300,000 square feet.
Speaking for the operations department, Brian Willock stressed the city's need for a new facility. The current 46-year-old building crams two or more people into each office cubicle and has meeting space for no more than eight people. It has insufficient washrooms for the 80-100 people who work there, said Willock, and also lacks a first-aid space, violating provincial WorkSafe requirements. "The old building," he said, "we don't expect it to survive an earthquake."
Willock added that city work crews and their equipment will be vital components of a post-disaster response and rebuilding effort. The new yard may also provide some space to North Shore Rescue.
No one at the hearing found fault with the new operations yard, but the proposed residential complex raised three main concerns: the impact on Mosquito Creek of a new access bridge planned for Third Street; the amount of new traffic generated near one of the city's busiest intersections; and, the wisdom of placing additional density so close to both the intersection and another largescale development proposal, Concert Properties' Harbourside project.
Mike Hunter, the city's manager of environment and parks, told council that the proposal made it possible to create a new trail along the east side of the creek, set 15 metres back from the shore. Invasive species would be removed, creating new parkland for the city, he said.
Karen Milne, president of the Mosquito Creek Stewardship Society, welcomed this work but said the proposed Third Street bridge cancelled out its benefits. "Unfortunately a creek crossing slices right through the habitat and there are all sorts of problems associated with that. . . . There are problems with traffic noise, traffic contaminants, exhaust fumes and what have you."
Given the creek's tree cover, Milne said, both noise and exhaust fumes get trapped within the "green tunnel" of the creek. Debris is also occasionally thrown off of bridges, she added.
Hunter told council that Mosquito Creek is "an important salmon-bearing stream" and that the specific design of the proposed bridge would be subject to review by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
Regarding the suitability of the residential project immediately south of Marine Drive and Keith Road, Ivan Leonard of the Lower Lonsdale Citizens' Association declared it "a great project" that would provide customers for the nearby businesses. On the other hand, Robyn Adair, a member of the Marine Drive planning task force, told council the low resident turnout indicated "development fatigue" rather than approval.
"What I've experienced so far is the increase in traffic," she said, "and 375 units is a lot in this small space considering that there are not that many ways to get out. . . . You can only cram so many sardines into the can before it's a big parking lot, which I already experience," she said.
Coun. Rod Clark said the overall proposal wasn't quite the "slam-dunk" he expected from early presentations. He told the audience he regretted the loss of the former Home Oil industrial lot and the increased traffic volumes the apartments would create. "We are rapidly going the way of the West End (of Vancouver). We have housing everywhere and we have towers coming on-stream. So where does it all end? Where do we say we don't need any more housing, we need industrial land, we need jobs?"
That said, Clark concluded, the new works yard was "a damn good deal for the city."
Coun. Guy Heywood said it is "an incredibly important responsibility of the city to make sure it's not housing most of its equipment in 1965 cinder-block buildings that would not survive an earthquake."
The lone vote against the proposal was Coun. Pam Bookham, who said the new density was too high a price for the new works yard and reiterated her long-held opposition to five-and six-storey wood-frame buildings. "If this property were privately owned and currently zoned for industrial use, would we as a council be entertaining this proposal, this development?" she asked.
Mayor Darrell Mussatto applauded senior planning staff for coming up with the land swap and "saving tens of millions of dollars in taxes."
"This works in a very respectful way," he said, "to the taxpayer, to the environment, to the citizens and to business."
balldritt@nsnews.com
