Planning
The blue boxes represent major developments in the District, the red ones in the City. All of them will put more cars and people on the same already crowded roads and in the same overstuffed buses. We need to look at the big picture and make sure it all fits.
City and District planning departments don’t consider the cumulative effects on traffic of the projects they approve. And they don’t get together to assess the impact on North Van as a whole.
Developers just want their individual projects approved as fast as possible before the community wakes up and says enough is enough and pushes back on all development, good or bad.
We have to get serious about making decisions about development in the City before we end up in a situation where public frustration with the apparent lack of coordinated planning and development of the infrastructure needed to support growth results in an angry rejection of all development.
The first step to doing that is thinking carefully about whom you vote for in the election on October 15th.
Your vote for Guy Heywood for Mayor is a vote for common sense at City Hall.
17 Comments
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Aman Bhayani
The city of North Vancouver has been particularly difficult when properly zoning areas.
I my humble opinion, any detached single family home that lines a busy road or a highway should be re-zoned to allow for high density housing.
Developers would then be able to build townhomes or low-rise apartments on these busy streets.
This would solve two major problems:
1. The housing demands needed to support a growing population
2. Better insulated streets from traffic noise as well as better use of land
Examples of streets that could benefit from this are:
23rd Street
29th Street
but more importantly 25th Street
These are areas that are loud and full of traffic or on a highway and would benefit greatly from re-zoning, currently they are zoned for RS-1 when they could be for an RM1, RM2 or RM3.
Guy Heywood
Those are good suggestions. Two of the streets are above highway. The timing of which should really be integrated with the planning of other developments across North Vancouver, not just in the City.
Galina and Todor Penkov
We are going to vote for !We came to this country and community 27 years ago,we oppose highrise buildings and the disconnection of our beautiful North Vancouver with nature.
Guy Heywood
Thanks for your comments!
Mohammad Samani
It seems to me that discouraging the use of cars and encouraging the use of public transit has been successful in most cities in Europe. I ride my bicycle to work, and I don’t always enjoy it, because most things are designed for cars. Sure there are some bicycle paths here and there, but they are not continuous and not consistent and many of them are not safe.
Regarding public transit, based on Translink’s presentation at the City Hall in July, it seems like they are very keen to expand the services, but budget and getting rid of car lanes are two major impediments. You are proposing to reduce taxes to the level of the District.
I am interested in a more detailed plan.
Guy Heywood
Good points Mohammad. I would say there is a big portion of the population for whom bicycles are not an option. The rubber-wheeled transit solution is the cheapest option for sure. I would like to know why other parts of Metro are attracting more investment. As for taxes, I am really just pointing out the increasing disparity, and the inequity of the jurisdiction with the poorer population paying a bigger share of the cost of common services. Another way to approach this would be for taxes in the District to increase.
Guybaker
The LIE being given by senior bankers and Ottawa is, . . . “We need to keep building faster and faster to keep real estate costs down.”
The Bankers and Ottawa, plus their shills have decided that they want 100,000,000 people in Canada quickly. Immigration is the industry that is replacing Gas and Oil in Canada.
Their objective will mean homes will not be affordable for Canadian taxpayers. All they know is DEBT. Do they care about congestion? Costs of living?
Ken Izatt
The city looks like it is actively removing parking at every opportunity. I saw a new building under construction at 2nd and St. George’s. The new curb has been extended into St. George’s Ave eliminating any potential for street parking or bike lane opportunities. This of course compounds the traffic issue as people circle the block in search of parking. There is also no room for cyclists. What are your thoughts on providing public street and building parking with new builds ?
Lida Penn
There has been a proposal of building a 6 story building on the corner of West 3rd and Forbes (351 West 3rd) A 6-storey market rental residential building; 53 residential units; 27 vehicle parking spaces; 102 bicycle parking spaces. I live next door. My concern is parking. In our building, we have 29 suites, 35 parking spots and every single one is filled. In fact about 5 residents have to park their cars on 4th as there are no spots on 3rd available and 2nd is only for residents or 2 hour parking. Of our 29 suites, only about 5 people ride their bikes and only recreationally. I don’t think that planning is right, we are not the west end were there are restaurants and stores on every block. In North Van city you need a car. New buildings should not be built unless they can parking for all their residents.
Pat Penner
Hi Guy – I have a question about your approach to climate change issues. We are losing green space and mature trees in the City. Your website doesn’t address any of these issues, which are a concern to many of us. Thanks for your comment. Pat
Bryan Brooking
Guy – to make a real change at City Hall we need to get a majority of like minded individuals in place – of the candidates running for Councillor, who would you like to suggest? By observation, it seems to me that all of the incumbents have generally voted in rubber stamp fashion for any development proposed and/or variance requested.
Brad Cole
Do have a solution for the number of bicycle related injuries and deaths that have occured since the increase of bicyclists have taken to our street riding along the sides of busy roads making it dangerous for drivers and cyclists alike?
Guy Heywood
The best I can come up with right now is a task force comprised of city staff and bike user groups to identify and prioritize every dangerous situation and figure out the best way to make them safer. List and progress reports should be publicly available. Do you have any ideas?
Gloria Atkinson
We need 2 more bridges off the shore. I am always in bridge traffic just to get around. I do not leave the NS very often but I am stuck in bridge traffic. If we ever have a fire we are in big trouble.
Perfectly good buildings are coming down and bigger ones are going up.
Please stop the density the DM has done.
Are you in the real estates pockets. It looks like it to me.
Guy Heywood
I am not in the real estate industry’s pocket and very opposed to the extent to which they have influence on Council. While I was on Council I opposed DM and LB’s approach to indiscriminate density. Sorry for being slow to answer your comment.
cecile bibet
good thinking Guy you have got our votes !
Guy Heywood
Thanks!