Olympic Village & Southeast False Creek Updates Discussion

[giallo]

Yeah. Me too.

[DKaz]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

A shot of the lane, which differs from the standard city design in a number of ways. There are street trees in key locations where they will be able to grow without affecting sight lines or the ability for haulers to service the buildings' garbage and recycling. There are cobblestones lining either side and a concrete drainage runnel will run down the centre once the City is ready to pave the lane and complete the design. The architects for Pinnacle Living False Creek and its neighbour across the lane, Foundry, worked together to ensure that their courtyards would be complimentary to one another in terms of light access and private views and overlook, plus the garage entrance for Pinnacle Living False Creek was positioned as far away from the more lively and porous part of Foundry's courtyard. It is also likely that Pinnacle Living False Creek's garage entrance will be shared by the future adjacent project in the same manner that Foundry and The Exchange share a single driveway entrance to their separately gated underground parking garages.

Taken by SFUVancouver, May 18th 2011.

Those poles looks brand new. Seriously? Spend so much developing the area and can't even bother to bury hydro/cable/phone lines.

[wrenegade]

edit: angry statements retracted.

[jlousa]

Correct me if I'm wrong but do the new developments not have the service buried? I imagine the poles are only there due to the buildings on the other side of the lane and once developed they will be removed.

[officedweller]

I thought the City considered that "H" form of utility pole to be of local heritage value.

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by squeezied

Thank you again for the pics! I will really miss your regular updates once you go to Toronto.

Originally Posted by giallo

Yeah. Me too.

Aw shucks, thanks for that. I'll miss doing them too. There are going to be a ton of things for me to get used to once I move, especially the work load at school, but I am certain that for a while every two weeks I will still feel like it's time to grab my bike and camera and head over to Broadway and SEFC. I really do hope that the photo updates will keep rolling in since I am dying to see how Central, Wall Centre False Creek, Opsal, and a slew of other projects help make SEFC come together as a real place and help invert the ratio of buildings to empty lots. As for Broadway, I'm not fooling myself in the slightest to think that while I am away the UBC Line will be approved, let alone begin construction, but there are some meaty projects in the pipeline for Broadway that I want to follow, namely Rize Alliance's Kingsway project, Pinnacle on Broadway, the mid-rise office block opposite Crossroads, the potential redevelopment of the old London Drugs store, etc., etc., etc.

I do know that I am certainly headed into the right career for me and these two years in Toronto at Ryerson doing my Master of Planning are the key to me realizing my goal.

[Millennium2002]

Heritage value of utility poles? Now that would be a bit rather silly.... xD

@ SFUVancouver, good luck on that Master of Planning degree! Maybe one day you can come back and help us influence development here! ;D

[Coldrsx]

Pinnacle is a little bland, but turned out ok.

[squeezied]

Originally Posted by DKaz

Those poles looks brand new. Seriously? Spend so much developing the area and can't even bother to bury hydro/cable/phone lines.

Are the pole really new? I don't recall seeing them rebuild them, not that I've been particularily paying attention to that.

But from that pic, I don't see any cable connecting from the poles to either of the buildings. I would hope that the poles are just there to continue the lines to the next block and beyond, just traversing across this development. Hopefully JLousa is right in that after the areas between 1st and 2nd ave have been developed the poles will be removed.

I'm interested if anyone can provide any additional insight.

[hummingbird]

Originally Posted by squeezied

Are the pole really new? I don't recall seeing them rebuild them, not that I've been particularily paying attention to that.

But from that pic, I don't see any cable connecting from the poles to either of the buildings. I would hope that the poles are just there to continue the lines to the next block and beyond, just traversing across this development. Hopefully JLousa is right in that after the areas between 1st and 2nd ave have been developed the poles will be removed.

I'm interested if anyone can provide any additional insight.

Those transformers and power poles are here to stay according to a Rep from the city of Vancouver. I was in liasing with them about the power poles by the James and at 700 West 8th and they said at the time in the sales centre they would all be buried but according to the city they will not. They said the sales centres will say anything to get potential candidates to buy. That's a shame because it's time for the poles to go. BTW There's a unit at 700 West 8th for sale on the mls and there's a transformer pole on the balcony...makes a bit of a conversation piece..lol

[whatnext]

That sucks! Not only is it an aesthetic abomination, you have to wonder how safe all these service poles will be in an eathquake, where they will be vulnerable to falling debris etc.

[sacrifice333]

It is truly unfortunate as the city tries to turn lanes into mews that are habitable. Very short-sighted. Makes zero sense.

A couple other things I found out lately:

• The Village water features are awaiting a filtration system before being turned back on -- no idea of timing
• The wetland area in Hinge Park is NOT supposed to be inter-tidal, as I previously assumed, but simply a spillway or catchment of storm water, resulting in lower levels during drier periods, and vice versa.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by allan_kuan

Heritage value of utility poles? Now that would be a bit rather silly.... xD

Found this report through Google - it's a good read.
Under the heading of "Heritage Value" it includes the poles as "character-defining elements".

http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/southeast/documents/pdf/privatelandscharacter.pdf

Heritage Value (educational, aesthetic, architectural, social, historic, scientific)

... The lane between 1st and 2nd has its own
character. ‘H’ shaped hydro pole frame the view.

[wrenegade]

edit: more angry statements retracted.

[s211]

Originally Posted by allan_kuan

Heritage value of utility poles? Now that would be a bit rather silly.... xD

<puts on hippy-dip tea cozy hat>

"well, uhhh, they were trees at one time... death to capitalism!"

<then contemplates one more way to fark up the planet in the name of saving it...>

[dreambrother808]

It sounds more like a matter of cost-cutting framed as a heritage feature.

[TwoFace]

I would think that classifying the poles as a Heritage feature is "code" for, the construction pressures and time frame didn't allow for that particular upgrade.
In the not so distant future, alley garbage will be seen as "urban art".

[SEFC Planner]

Hello,

I am the Planner for Southeast False Creek with the City of Vancouver Planning Department. I'm pleased to see the enthusiastic discussion about the City's model sustainable neighbourhood!

I want mention that the plan has been, and continues to be, to underground electrical utilities in SEFC. Undergrouding (and removal of H-frames) can be completed only once all the customers served by the old overhead lines are connected to new, underground service. This usually plays out on a block-by-block basis.

In the block between Wylie and Crowe (shown in the photo in this thread) we are working with Hydro to get the last overheard customers (some of whom are the City's own infrastruture) moved over to underground service. Then the H-frames can be removed.

And rest assured that the H-frames in the photo are not new! Look closely at the picture and you can see how the poles have started to turn grey with age...

[jlousa]

Thanks for the update, I figured so much but it's always good to hear it directly from those involved. Welcome to the forum and hope you stick around.

[hollywoodnorth]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Thanks for the update, I figured so much but it's always good to hear it directly from those involved. Welcome to the forum and hope you stick around.

same thoughts from me .... cheers and welcome!