Burnaby council roundup—March 21, 2022

Ahhh, council night. Covering council, any seasoned reporter will tell you, is one of the most thrilling and exciting parts of our job—akin to interviewing a celebrity or landing a Pulitzer-winning scoop.

Ok, that may have been too sarcastic. And having been to some pretty wild council meetings in my time, I actually relish the opportunity to cover a meeting where everyone remains civil and I don’t have to wonder if I’ll be hit by a flying chair.

Here’s what our lovely and calm city councillors calmly discussed at a calm meeting last night.

Royal Oak Community Plan

We’ve reported previously on proposed changes to the Royal Oak Official Community Plan (OCP), which would allow for the development of a mixed-use site owned by the BC General Employees Union. Along with moving its Lower Mainland office to the site, the BCGEU is proposing two residential towers including market and non-market rentals.

However, the Royal Oak OCP (created in 1999) doesn’t actually allow for the density required for the project–and if the project were to go ahead, the OCP would need to be amended.

Royal Oak resident Katy Alkins-Jang, who was involved in the creation of the original OCP, brought concerns about the proposed development to council that include a lack of robust public consultation, pressure of added density on facilities like community centres, libraries and schools, and the impacts of increased road traffic.

Alkins-Jang stressed that she’s not against the development itself, but pointed out that it simply doesn’t align with the OCP in its current form. She said she’s received 400 signatures from neighbours who share some of those concerns, and wants the rezoning approval to be paused until the OCP can be reviewed.

Vibe check

Councillors were fairly sympathetic with Alkins-Jang, with Coun Dan Johnston saying he had expected to be in conflict with her arguments but that he had been proven wrong. He called Alkin-Jang’s nearly half-hour long presentation “well-thought out and well-researched”, agreeing that successful public consultation should be easily accessible by that public.

Johnston said his concern doesn’t necessarily lie with the building, but with its location and its deviation from the Royal Oak OCP—calling it an example of “spot rezoning”, which councillors have said they want to avoid. If, however, the OCP were to be amended through a fair and free process with public input, the site would be “fair game”.

Coun Colleen Jordan, meanwhile, took the opportunity to apologize to Alkins-Jang for a social media pile-on that followed some media coverage of her pleas to council. Alkins-Jang said she had suffered many personal attacks in the days that followed the publication of two articles about the Royal Oak site; Mayor Mike Hurley called those attacks “disgusting” and said they shouldn’t be supported in any form.

Vote check

N/A

Metrotown development tenant concerns

Councillors received a report from the planning and development committee outlining concerns raised by tenants at five Metrotown area buildings—6433 McKay Ave and 6366 Cassie Ave, 6444 Silver Ave, 4355 Maywood St, and 6630 Telford Ave—that may soon be torn down to make room for high-rise developments.

At a pair of public hearings, many residents at the building had concerns about how the construction will impact them.

Burnaby’s tenant assistance policy (TAP) means that the applicant, Belford Properties, would need to secure reasonable housing for displaced tenants during construction of the new development and pay the difference in rent as well in a top-up.

Vibe check

Coun Alison Gu wanted to know what the city is doing to make the situation clear to all affected tenants, and also had several questions about what would happen if the developer were to provide “bad options” for interim housing—like housing far away that would make it impossible for displaced tenants to keep their current jobs, for instance.

Planning and development general manager Ed Kozak said staff worked to clear up some of the confusions and questions tenants had at the public hearings about the TAP, relocation policies, and the end dates of the rent top-up (the top-up would apply for as long as it takes for the rental replacement unit to be ready for move-in). However, he noted that only people listed on the lease of a unit would be eligible for the TAP.

Jordan, meanwhile, said that the plan isn’t perfect, but that lots of work has been done to meet with tenants and give them as much information as possible. She said the development has taught council important lessons about providing early information to tenants as soon as the city finds out about the potential of redevelopment—and she noted that COVID has made things even more difficult when it comes to meeting with tenants, many of whom may not speak English as their first language.

Hurley concurred—saying while the system isn’t perfect, council will keep working on making it perfect.

Vote check

Motion carried.

Miscellaneous

Three items we said we were planning on keeping an eye on passed with no fanfare and even less discussion—a strange but welcome state of affairs at a city council meeting!

Vibe check

A proposal to add a BC Cannabis Location inside Lougheed Town Centre will proceed to a public hearing on April 26, as will a proposed childcare centre located in Metrotower 2 (one of the office buildings at Metrotown).

Meanwhile, a rezoning bylaw will be prepared for first reading early next month for a proposed development at Douglas Rd and Springer Ave that would include a 47-storey high residential tower with 357 units (74 of them would be considered non-market rentals).

Gu had a singular comment on this item: to thank staff for ensuring that the size of the non-market rental units would be aligned with the size of strata units at the development.

Vote check

All motions carried.

Editor’s note: A earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to a union proposing a development in Burnaby’s Royal Oak area as the BC Government & Service Employees’ Union. In fact, the union’s name was changed last year to the BC General Employees’ Union. Its acronym remains the same (BCGEU). Our story has been updated to reflect the union’s correct name.