Figure 17 of the Draft plan suggests private vehicle use of the Hub connection road. I don't agree with this and think the central road should be limited to transit options (including bus and street car), possibly taxi's, and of course pedestrian/bycycle traffic.
Under section 5.1:
Quote:
View Protection Guidelines (1989, amended 1990)
Building heights within the Framework area are limited by five Council-adopted View Cones which preserve views of the
North Shore mountains from areas south of the downtown peninsula (see Figure 27). The most restrictive of these View
Cones (from Queen Elizabeth Park) limits building heights over the whole Framework area to 124m above base elevation
3.5m (rail track level).
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Considering just how useless that viewcone is, I think that for this purpose it should be changed or eliminated, seeing as how other viewcones could allow for up to 137 meter building heights.
Personally I'm hoping that the tallest building could be a large landmark building that leaves a big city feel and impression the same way Shaw and now Fairmont have. Hopefully with similar mass as these buildings but at 150-175 (or even 200 if possible) meters, with the second tallest/largest building being 125-150 meters, and the remainder under 100 meters, of course the heights stepping down towards the waterfront and gastown.
From 9.1.1.1; Impacts on Capacity of CPR Rail Yard:
Quote:
The requirements for building over the rail yard are addressed in an agreement initiated in 1985 between CPR and
Marathon Developments which established a statutory right-of-way for rail operations within the yard. This is referred
to as the “Front Yard Agreement” and the rights and responsibilities contained within it have been transferred to the
current owner, the Vancouver Whitecaps. In summary, the Front Yard Agreement allows for development to occur over
the rail yard (at least 7.2m above the top of the rails) including the necessary foundations and columns placed within the
yard, provided that there is no loss in the quality of the rail facility. This implies that any rail capacity that is lost due to
column placement or other disruption caused by the development would need to be replaced.
The structural feasibility study included a preliminary investigation of the impacts on the rail yard likely to result from the
development anticipated in this framework document, using the Illustrative Concept Plan as a basis for the analysis. It
was initially thought that some portions of the rail tracks would be able to pass below the development sites, however on
further exploration it was determined that the required structural components for earthquake resistance would preclude
the ability to maintain rail lines under the buildings. The study concluded that there would be a loss of up to one third of
the existing rail track length within the yard to accommodate the development in the Illustrative Concept Plan.
It may be possible to offset some of this loss through the provision of additional tracks to the north of the yard, however,
these additional tracks may be required just to address additional demand for yard capacity resulting from the anticipated
increase in container throughput at the port terminals. Further work will need to be undertaken to examine ways to
maintain the capacity of the yard, including:
• Further analysis to explore the potential to reduce the impact of development on the rail yard e.g. through
alternative structural design and/or reduction in building footprint.
• A comprehensive study of options for offsetting capacity losses within the yard and increasing capacity at other
locations within the Burrard Inlet South Shore rail system.
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Basically the way the supports for any overhead structure would be designed would reduce rail capacity, which can't be offset by northward expansion of the rail yard because that would already be needed for anticipated future growth of the area.
My question is, would it be possible to build another railyard under the current one, with a massive superstructure that would support the upper rail yard deck AND overhead structures?
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