Millennium Line - Evergreen Extension | Completed

[cornholio]

^they should just flip a dam coin and get it over with.
it should part of our municipal laws, cases such as this where two cities want the benefits yet they doent want the actual infrastructure and they cant come to a agreement thats satisfactory and cost effective for Translink then they should go and flip a coin, heads means east, tails means west. done....simple....fair...everyone benefits.

[GeeCee]

Or we could just get it over with and amalgamate already.. would solve a lot of problems.

[Metro-One]

Well i believe Burnaby, New West and Vancouver should amalgamate, while Coquitlam, Port Moody and Poco should amalgamate (and Maple Ridge/Pitt meadows should amalgamate and be called maple Meadows, much more appealing) but this would not solve this problem, seeing how it would be running between two of my amalgamated communities. Oh well, i like the coin idea.

[jlousa]

That didn't take long.

Looks like Translink has begun work along the evergreen line.

Defendant: South Coast British ColumbiaTransportation Authority
cob TransLink
1600–4720 Kingsway,
Burnaby

Plaintiff: Land Castle Development Corp.
700–595 Burrard St.,
Vancouver

Claim: Damages including damages for injurious affection, and/or, damages to be assessed pursuant to the Expropriation Act related to the proposed Evergreen Line

As far as my research can tell the property is at 2025 St Johns.

[Jared]

Odd, the alignment posted (http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/evergreen_line/docs/Evergreen_SkyTrain_Ortho.pdf) doesnt really come close to that property (unless Google Maps is lying to me about the location of that property). In fact, the closest it gets is about 200m away, where it goes from Columbia over Barnett to Vintner street. I imagine they'll need to expropriate a couple properties around there for a TBM staging/unpacking area (depending on which direction they choose to tunnel), and of course you'll have a permanent tunnel portal there. But I'm surprised they need any sites as far south as on St. John's.

[jlousa]

I am unable to confirm it is that property, but it does appear to be, we'll have to wait for more details to surface. At least they are moving ahead with the project now.

[officedweller]

Unless it relates to the LRT Evergreen Proposal which is no longer being pursued - and hence the property is no longer required and the owner was put through inconvenience, etc.
But if the land is no longer required, that wouldn't be "damages to be assessed pursuant to the Expropriation Act", unless the transfer of land was completed prior to the switch back to SkyTrain.

[Mininari]

This is the old Barnet Hotel site in Port Moody.
It has had numerous redevelopment proposals ranging from a simple commercial strip mall, to a 4-level mixed use, all the way to a 26-storey tower.

My guess is that the property is indeed no longer required as the elevated structure required to get the guideway to the CPR tracks would make Trasolini's head explode.

This is probably some form of litigation for lost-development revenue and potential, especially now that the economy has tanked... i.e. "we coulda cashed in on this, and now we're stuck because the LRT MIGHT have needed our land."

[Jared]

I think officedweller may be correct.

This is taken from the first page of this thread, of the previous LRT proposal:



Also, note that Translink was in charge of the previous LRT scheme, MoT is in charge of the Evergreen-as-SkyTrain that we have now. If this was related to the current plan, they'd probably be suing MoT instead.

[officedweller]

From the Tri-City News:

The Tri-City News
Evergreen work to start: premier
By Gary McKenna - The Tri-City News


Published: February 19, 2009 6:00 PM
Updated: February 20, 2009 2:50 PM

Construction on the Evergreen Line will begin next year and will be a private-public partnership, according to Premier Gordon Campbell, who addressed local business people at a luncheon Thursday.

Campbell was in the region on a pre-election swing, discussing the recent budget announcement and the difficult economic times the province is currently facing. But despite the financial turmoil mega-projects like the Evergreen Line are at the “top of the list,” he told those attending the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce event.

“It will be a positive and creative addition to our transit system,” he told the crowd.

He said the project will be funded in part by the federal government, the province, TransLink and the private sector.

Campbell expects the Evergreen Line to create more than 8,400 jobs during the construction process, many of which will be filled by people living in the Tri-Cities.

The initiative is part of a $14-billion plan to upgrade and expand the Lower Mainland’s transit system, and includes other projects such as the South Fraser perimeter road and the expansion of the Port Mann bridge.

Before his speech at the Executive Plaza in Coquitlam, Campbell also addressed the recent spate of gang violence in the region in a press scrum outside the hotel’s conference room.

While he acknowledged that the amount of money going into the court system had decreased in his current budget, he pointed to increases in the number of prosecutors — up from 16 to 26 — now dedicated to the issue.

“Courts are going to have to find new ways of doing things,” he said, adding new technologies like teleconferencing are examples of ways courts can cut costs.

While Campbell’s address to the chamber focused on tax cuts and government accomplishments, he also acknowledged that 2009 would be “a tough year.”

The premier even pinpointed the day everything changed for the North American economy.

On Friday, Sept. 12, Colin Hansen announced the province had a significant budget surplus. By Monday, Sept. 15, American financial services giant Lehman Brothers had collapsed and the province was forced to re-calibrate its projections.

“That announcement signalled the world had changed not for a while, not temporarily, but forever,” he said. “The world is not going back to where it was. Asian economies are going to grow faster than ours. The U.S. is never going to have the level of pre-eminence that it did before.”

This year the province now faces a close to $500 million deficit and deficit spending is expected to continue next year.

While the province is currently going into debt, Campbell said his government is establishing a plan to get the province back in the black for 2011.

He added the cost of health care consisted of 90% of the province’s operating budget and that balancing the books would have involved dramatic cuts to services.

“We could have balanced the budget,” he said. “But if we balanced the budget it would have done significant damage to health care, significant damage to services and we weren’t prepared to do that.”

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by officedweller

From the Tri-City News:

Next year? Ugh.

Cue Trasolini "This might not happen! waaaaaaaaaaaaah"

[hollywoodnorth]

Go Gordo Go!

[officedweller]

From the Tri-City News:

Feds flash cash at Evergreen Line
Published: February 25, 2009 11:00 AM
Updated: February 25, 2009 11:54 AM

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to announce federal funding for the Evergreen Line to Coquitlam Thursday.

Harper is set to make the announcement in Burnaby at the SkyTrain maintenance yard, Black Press has learned.

[DKaz]

Go Harpo Go!

[Locked In]

Harper expected to announce Evergreen transit line funding

By Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver Sun - February 25, 2009 5:09 PM




A 2006 artist's rendering of scenes along the proposed Evergreen transit route. Photograph by: .., TransLink

METRO VANCOUVER -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to announce federal funding for the long-awaited $1.4 billion Evergreen Line when he visits Metro Vancouver on Thursday.

No details have been released, but the announcement is being billed as involving “federal support for a significant infrastructure project.”

The 11-kilometre rapid transit line, which would link Burnaby, Port Moody and Coquitlam, was cited as part of the B.C. government's wish list presented to federal Transport Minister John Baird in December.

The list included projects to be accelerated under a federal government scheme to stimulate the economy and create jobs in 2009-10.

Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon was on his way home from Ottawa today and couldn’t be reached for comment. He, along with Premier Gordon Campbell, international trade minister Stockwell Day, and Port Moody MP James Moore, minister of Canadian heritage and official languages, will all be at the announcement at TransLink’s maintenance centre in Burnaby.

Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini said he has been invited to the event, and is confident the Evergreen Line will finally be given the green light after “being left at the altar a few times.”

“I have no knowledge: all I can say is this is going to be it. I do not want to think this is going to be another letdown,” he said.

Falcon said in December the province is in negotiations with the federal government for funding for the project and planned to open a construction office in January ahead of signing off on the deal.

The B.C. government has already committed $410 million and TransLink $400 million to the long-awaited Evergreen Line but the federal funding was still need.

The federal government, which is required to pay a third of the project, has already provided $67 million and was expected to match Victoria's contribution. That would leave the project $200 million short, which Falcon has previously suggested would likely be covered by a private-sector partner.

The Evergreen line is expected to be completed in 2014. Without federal funding, the project is at risk of being scrapped as TransLink struggles to boost revenues to maintain the status quo by 2011. TransLink is already $100 million short of what it needs to maintain and expand transit services in 2009.

And unless it can boost revenues by $150 million annually by 2011, it could start axing services and infrastructure. Expanding services would require about $350 million a year.

The Evergreen Line, which is listed as a committed project in TransLink's 10-year $14-billion expansion plan, may be affected if the reserves run dry.

The Prime Minister is also expected to announce measures to crackdown on gang activity when he visits Vancouver.
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Source: Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver Sun

[mezzanine]

Excellent!

My question is - what will be D. Malcolm Johnson's reponse?

[mr.x]

February 25, 2009

Evergreen Line announcement may leave Joe Trasolini with egg on his face
By Matthew Burrows

Port Moody mayor Joe Trasolini has publicly expressed doubts that $400 million in federal funding he has repeatedly sought will ever arrive for the long-awaited Evergreen Line.

Now, Trasolini may have egg on his face following today’s announcement that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will head to TransLink’s Burnaby operations and maintenance centre tomorrow (February 26) to announce federal funding for “a significant infrastructure project”.

Joining Harper will be International Trade Minister Stockwell Day, Heritage Minister James Moore, Premier Gordon Campbell, and B.C. transportation minister Kevin Falcon.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty mentioned the Evergreen Line in his 360-page budget released on January 27. But in the budget document, there was no explicit promise of federal funds for the proposed $1.4-billion rapid-transit line, which would link Lougheed Mall with Coquitlam City Centre via Port Moody.

Trasolini was upset there was no mention of the Evergreen Line in a budget “line item”.

“That doesn’t give me a sense of certainty that the funding for the Evergreen Line is there,” Trasolini told the Straight that same day. “Clearly it is not.”

Coquitlam mayor Richard Stewart had a different response at the time, saying on January 28 that he was “ecstatic”.

“I’m not going to call the minister a liar when he says the budget includes $500 million for those three transit projects,” Stewart said. “I’ve always taken the position that when a senior level of government announces that they are giving you something, you say, ‘Thank you.’ You don’t say, ‘—.’”

TransLink has pledged $400 million for the proposed project, while the B.C. government has promised $410 million. The as-yet-unknown private partner that builds the line is expected to cover $200 million of the cost.

http://www.straight.com/article-203786/e...t-could-leave-joe-trasolini-egg-his-face

[Stingray2004]

Hey, I didn't catch this today... excellent news!

The environment assessment for the Evergreen Line is still in its pre-application phase. I hope that this application will be sped up and receive certification ASAP. That's obviously the reason behind the delay in start of construction.

http://a100.gov.bc.ca/appsdata/epic/html/deploy/epic_project_home_278.html

[Xrayal]

Originally Posted by Stingray2004

http://a100.gov.bc.ca/appsdata/epic/html/deploy/epic_project_home_278.html

^I think this is old, this stuff is from early 06, maybe just an old applications needing deleting. Definite pre gordo-falco lighting a fire under it.

However great new about the line!! I'm really excited for tomorrow.

[twoNeurons]

^^^

I somehow doubt Skytrain will look like that rendering... going down a center median.

I wonder what the private partner will be responsible for, given that unless they go back to the idea of a non-contiguous system, we'll be getting a Bombardier system.