Burnaby resident raises hell about rising towers
Councillor Colleen Jordan and assistant director of current planning Ed Kozak seem to be wearing rose-coloured glasses when it comes to discussing town-centre development in Burnaby [“Towers rise in Burnaby, all according to plan”, February 21-28]. Metrotown where I live is already overdeveloped and yet many more huge developments are ready to go. Jordan and Kozak justify the density of development at Metrotown with the fact that the SkyTrain runs through that part of Burnaby.
Have they tried to board SkyTrain at the Metrotown station at practically any time of the day or evening? SkyTrain comes from the already heavily developed city of Surrey and is usually full by the time it reaches Metrotown.
The ability and capacity of SkyTrain to carry more passengers, in my opinion, has reached its limit. People are already opting to drive their cars instead of taking SkyTrain, and the consequence is log-jammed automobile traffic on Kingsway to and through Metrotown. Putting more towers into this area is inviting even more congestion.
The quality of the street-level environment is another issue. One has only to look at Hazel Street and Patterson Avenue to see how earlier tower developments were superior. At street level, one sees gardens and trees, making for pleasant, spacious surroundings. The buildings themselves were fewer than 30 storeys. The newer developments are now reaching 40 or more, and at ground level, one sees ugly, square box-like townhouses.
Automobile traffic will increase dramatically, transit will be impossible, and the Bonsor Recreation Complex will be even more crowded. Infrastructure and services—police, fire, safety, sewage, water, and power—will need to be upgraded and enlarged, adding huge costs to the city.
Ecodensity is an idea that has been oversold. I would like to see Burnaby city council return to its policy of allowing development to proceed at a measured, closely monitored pace, as in the past.
> Gerald Weeks / Burnaby
Comments
7 Comments
Hazlit
Mar 14, 2013 at 8:00am
Mr. Weeks makes some good points--Skytrain has reached capacity. Time to tax car drivers and corporations to expand the length of platforms.
tax the developers
Mar 14, 2013 at 10:29am
Since the developers benefits from the sales of condos, cities should tax them for skytrain platform AND train length increase as they do for community service upgrades.
Niko
Mar 14, 2013 at 11:33am
Honestly, I don't see the problem. If those people who buy the condos actually live in them and shop at the Metropolis at Metrotown mall, this makes no difference at all.
The trains full of people from Surrey commuting to downtown Vancouver is different problem that isn't going to be solved by by anyone in Burnaby. That is a problem with downtown Vancouver businesses hiring people who don't live in the downtown core. That needs to be addressed by (energy) tax credits for commuting less than 15 minutes.
Hire people living nearby only?
Mar 14, 2013 at 3:45pm
Niko is strange to suggest downtown business are to blame for hiring people needing to commute. I guess Niko is one of the lucky elites who get to walk to where they work? Good for Niko. Now consider the rest of the world.
Migzy
Mar 15, 2013 at 5:40am
Let's see skytrain and platform is crowded at metrotown - build bigger platform or use patterson which is a couple blocks away. Metrotown is already planned to have major upgrades in late 2013 or 2014 or so.
But Niko is right in that people commuting from surrey to downtown is cramming the train, which will just increase as Surrey's population increases. The odd thing is there are a lot of people commuting to Surrey to work from Vancouver and downtown, not the same as going into town but outgoing commuting has been increasing recently. Not much can do about that except somehow have another route to downtown - say millenium line to Canada Line - and then have some trains from surrey go that way.
As for the recreation center - make it bigger or add another one. Or maybe encourage the developments to have more amenities themselves. I imagine most have a gym, some meeting/party rooms, and even a hot tub/sauna.
Police/fire/etc - new towers brings new taxpayers, which pays for expansion. Besides its probably cheaper for the city to have more people in high rises than single family devs as everything is closer together.
If not in the town centers like Metrotown(where everyone wants to live) and Brentwood, where? Towers in single family home neighborhoods? Last I checked that also would need expanded city services and would ensure that everyone had to commute by car.
Increase the Size of the Pie
Mar 15, 2013 at 1:43pm
For the anti-commuters, are you suggesting we all live our lives in a 10 block radius like the good old feudal days? Trains need to be longer (4-6 car trains are like toys compared to other respectable cities). We need to have the mindset of solving scarcity (community services, transportation etc) vs jealously protecting what you have, then building barriers to prevent others from sharing. Greater Vancouver residence should have the mindset of increasing the size of the pie in a well organized and sustainable way, and not just putting up restrictions to development.
DShK
Mar 27, 2013 at 9:02am
Ecodensity is just some hogwash the municipal politicians like to use to justify building more condo towers. As with all politicians, it's about taxes. A 40-storey condo tower brings with it healthy revenue in the form of property taxes. Same thing is happening in the City of N Van. They just can`t help themselves.