Here’s what’s on the agenda at Burnaby’s Feb 14 council meeting

There once was a newsletter in BurnabyWhose reporters were chatting internallyAbout what they should watchTo keep their reporting top-notchAt city council, which was meeting fraternally.

I’m a poet, and I’ve always known it.

City council is meeting Monday evening at 5pm, and there’s several items on the docket we’ll be keeping an eye on—mostly related to development in the city.

Brentwood West Master Plan

Staff have prepared a report with preliminary concepts and a vision for Brentwood West, in the Brentwood Town Centre, that would “create not only a transit-oriented development, but an integrated, vibrant, and walkable mixed-use community in the heart of the Brentwood Town Centre.”

The 3.27-acre area on the northwest corner of Willingdon Ave and Lougheed Hwy is placed centrally in the town centre and would facilitate transit, pedestrian, road, and cycling linkages—including improvements to Willingdon, Lougheed, and Halifax St—and would also include a new public space along Buchanan St.

But the most significant goal of the master plan, write staff, “is the achievement of a truly pedestrian oriented development where a diverse mixture of residential, office, retail and open space uses come together to support a vibrant pedestrian core for the Town Centre.”

The plan says the area would provide a potential 1,400 housing units, including market and non-market rentals and strata units. It could also include 600,000 sq ft of commercial space—general manager of planning and development Ed Kozak says in the report that would encourage small and large businesses alike to set up shop and grow in Burnaby.

If council endorses the preliminary concepts and vision, staff will proceed with a first round of community input and an open house to gather public feedback.

Wayburne Drive Development

The developer of a proposed townhouse project at 3550 Wayburne Drive has promised several changes to their original design, after a public hearing in November drew harsh criticism from community members.

As we’ve earlier reported, speakers at that hearing raised concerns about the number of units (originally 208, then lowered to 130, and now mentioned in a report to council as 150). Some Greentree Village residents said they didn’t want their neighbourhood to become dense or noisy.

While there were too many units for many speakers’ likings, there was not enough parking proposed. Residents say the area isn’t walkable at the moment, and a new development would add to those problems.

The developer, Symphony Homes, has proposed several changes to the design in response to community feedback. The number of units has been reduced from the original proposal; additional off-street parking would be added “well in excess of bylaw requirements”; site access has been relocated from Woodsworth St to Wayburne Dr; and the waste and recycling area has been moved from Woodsworth St to Westminster Ave.

Kozak noted in his report that the developer has followed through on everything asked of them, and that staff remain supportive of the project.

“Overall, the proposal encompasses a high quality architecture and landscape treatment, and is considered to have public benefits by way of the various forms of housing provided, as well as the public realm improvements achieved as a part of the application,” Kozak’s report reads.

Laneway Homes

Laneway homes could become a reality in Burnaby by spring 2023.

The Planning and Development Committee is asking council to approve the process to develop regulations and guidelines for laneway homes in single family areas, additional accessory dwellings (or suites) in single family homes without laneway access, and two suites in semi-detached homes or four-plexes in duplex zoned lots.

The committee adopted a report on the matter at its meeting last week, as a first step in implementing the Housing Choices Program—which aims to introduce “missing middle” housing to Burnaby in the form of “duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, sixplexes, courtyard clusters, rowhomes, townhomes and low-rise apartments, and … accessory units such as flex suites, secondary suites and laneway homes.”

It’s also added a recommendation that staff be directed to explore the effect of allowing increased densification in single- and two family-zoned areas on affordability.