Gigantic 72-storey tower planned for Metrotown

During its first meeting of 2025, Burnaby City Council had a full docket of agenda items. The new schedule has come into effect, and now council meetings take place on Tuesdays, providing councillors and staff with a little extra time to examine agenda items and combat any case of the Monday blues. 

As the rare winter wildfires rage on in Los Angeles, climate change was discussed during the meeting as council members discussed preparedness and resiliency. This comes a few months after Burnaby experienced its own climate-related disasters during a recent atmospheric river event, which the Beacon covered here. 

72-storey tower planned for Metrotown

One of the highlights of the Jan. 14 meeting was the proposal for a very tall building. The building will not only be extremely tall, but it will also span a large portion of a commercial area in Metrotown at 4900 Kingsway, a portion of 4940 Kingsway, 6446 Nelson Ave., and 6450 Nelson Ave. 

According to a council report, the new development will be a high-density, mixed-use development that includes commercial, residential, and office spaces, as well as an art gallery. 

“The development is comprised of 469 residential units including a mix of strata, market rental, and non-market rental tenures, and commercial spaces including offices, retail, and community-oriented commercial uses. The proposed built form includes a 72-storey tower at the corner of Kingsway and Nelson Street with a podium terracing down from Kingsway to Bennett Street,” the report said. “The proposed development includes a publicly accessible elevated plaza and north-south laneway from Kingsway to Bennett Street.” 

According to the report, the proposed development will include 169 strata units, 170 market rental units, and 130 non-market rental units. It will also include 32,067 square metres of commercial space, including office, retail, and “community-orientated commercial uses,” which may refer to the art gallery mentioned by Coun. Pietro Calendino during the meeting. 

“Looking at the design in the report, it looks like quite a lovely, beautiful project, and this is only the first phase of the rest of the area that’s going to be developed in the future,” Calendino said. 

Council voted to forward the rezoning application for a first and second reading at a future council meeting.  

Burnaby to join cities with iconic landmark signs 

During the meeting, council discussed a proposal by Coun. James Wang to create a new landmark sign for the City of Burnaby. Like Vancouver, Toronto, and Hollywood, Burnaby deserves its distinctive, iconic sign for visitors to take selfies, and journalists to use in stock photos or footage. 

The proposal received unanimous approval during the council meeting, with some councillors even suggesting additional ideas related to the signage. 

“Maybe if we could also look at having a sign that could be moved around to like different places, if that’s something that might be feasible,” said Coun. Maita Santiago. “I would be interested in hearing back about that. So maybe it could be taken to a big cultural event or big city event, so that it’s not necessarily tied to one place.” 

Coun. Sav Dhaliwal suggested looking beyond just a landmark sign and at how to brand Burnaby in general. He added that there are currently old signs that are “tired” and need maintenance. 

“So this is, this is about actually looking, hopefully, in addition to a landmark sign to see how we do brand Burnaby because it should be promoted,” Dhaliwal said. “People, particularly travelling from outside the Lower Mainland, can recognize the difference between Vancouver and Burnaby, not only through what we do but certainly through signage and wayfinding.” 

Prioritizing disaster resilience in planning 

Most of the city’s councillors proposed adding climate resiliency planning and preparedness to the city’s Official Community Plan (OCP) process. The process, which has been ongoing for several years, is a multi-faceted, multi-phase plan covering all aspects of the city for the next 25 years. 

While the OCP currently does hint at changes related to climate change, council members suggested explicitly planning for an increase in natural disasters related to climate change. 

The council proposal has three main recommendations: 

• “That ​​staff identify the areas of the City of Burnaby that are at high risk of flooding and wildfire in the next 25 years and designate appropriate land uses in the Official Community Plan to prevent, to the largest extent possible, the risk to people and property;

• That staff embed other forms of proactive, nature-based risk mitigation strategies within engineering and planning standards, prioritizing areas where people already live that are at high risk of flooding and wildfire; and, 

• That staff identify and report back to Council with other strategies to improve resiliency and preparedness, such as but not limited to leveraging Development Permit processes, rezoning requirements, and municipally owned land.”

“We were recently advised by scientists that we reached 1.55 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels, and at the end of 2024, making that year the hottest year on record,” Gu said. “I hope, through this work, if council adopts it tonight, that staff will also be able to identify ways that we can more clearly and transparently plan for these types of hazards by limiting certain land uses or promoting other land uses in areas that we know are at risk of these hazards. I appreciate council support on this, and I hope that we are able to better support the residents, not just next year or in 10 years, but for the next 25 years and beyond.” 

Dhaliwal commented on the need to ensure that any future infrastructure is resilient against natural disasters. Other councillors spoke about the rising costs of disasters. 

“I saw the report from the Insurance Bureau of Canada that said, last year, for the first time in Canada’s history, insured damage caused by severe weather events surpassed $8 billion, and this shattered the previous record of $6 billion from 2016 which was following the Fort McMurray wildfires,” Santiago said. “I think it’s also significant that this figure is nearly triple the total insured losses recorded in 2023 and 12 times the national average between 2001 and 2010.” 

This piece was made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

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