Burnaby Updates

[madog222]

Yeah, ALC technically doesn't care if the land is actively being used for agriculture, just to keep the land in a state capable of being cultivated.

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by madog222

Yeah, ALC technically doesn't care if the land is actively being used for agriculture, just to keep the land in a state capable of being cultivated.

I doubt anyone will go through the effort to turn back a golf course into farmland, so is it really still 'capable of being farmed?'

I guess maybe greenhouses, if we're lucky.



Then again, there's way dumber ALR parcels, so whatever.

[cairnstone]

Originally Posted by fredinno

I doubt anyone will go through the effort to turn back a golf course into farmland, so is it really still 'capable of being farmed?'

I guess maybe greenhouses, if we're lucky.



Then again, there's way dumber ALR parcels, so whatever.

will never see greenhouses there. And I believe Burnaby has a plan to expand the industrial area and the only area that will remain in ALR is the north side of marine staying.

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by cairnstone

will never see greenhouses there. And I believe Burnaby has a plan to expand the industrial area and the only area that will remain in ALR is the north side of marine staying.

Do you have a source for that?
It seems logical.

[gaviscon]

Would it ever be possible to move out the graveyards near Brentwood and Metrotown? Takes up so much space on prime land and it's kind of bizarre to have that kind of area right beside a "downtown"

We don't have so much space to build on the Lower Mainland as is.

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by gaviscon

Would it ever be possible to move out the graveyards near Brentwood and Metrotown? Takes up so much space on prime land and it's kind of bizarre to have that kind of area right beside a "downtown"

We don't have so much space to build on the Lower Mainland as is.

It's possible, but probably would virtually never happen.
For one thing a lot of those graves still have living relatives that would vehemently object to any such suggestion or proposal.

For another, even if they did somehow exhume all the bodies and successfully relocate them and then set about developing the land where they once were, how would you like to be the developer or marketing team that tries to sell a project located on what used to be people's grave sites?

And you thought trying to market projects neighbouring power sub-stations was a tough sell.

You'd probably stand a better chance going after golf courses if you're looking for "wasted land" to develop into prime residential properties.

[Spr0ckets]

I see that even a possible new City Hall proposal is not spared the wrath of the notorious Nimby McNimberson Esq.


https://www.burnabynow.com/opinion/opinions-a-new-burnaby-city-hall-not-so-fast-6968867

Talking about traffic congestion and lack of parking as reasons to not relocate it to Metrotown.

Does the present City Hall attract a great deal of traffic and vehicular congestion where it's currently located at Highway 1?

I wonder how much these people will protest of the proposal is paired with a proposal for a replacement Rec. Center (and possible community center) at the current Bonsor location.

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

It's possible, but probably would virtually never happen.
For one thing a lot of those graves still have living relatives that would vehemently object to any such suggestion or proposal.

For another, even if they did somehow exhume all the bodies and successfully relocate them and then set about developing the land where they once were, how would you like to be the developer or marketing team that tries to sell a project located on what used to be people's grave sites?

And you thought trying to market projects neighbouring power sub-stations was a tough sell.

You'd probably stand a better chance going after golf courses if you're looking for "wasted land" to develop into prime residential properties.

They could make it a park and transfer some of the other parkland into condos instead.

[cairnstone]

Originally Posted by fredinno

Do you have a source for that?
It seems logical.

well the greenhouse industry is in Delta for several reasons:


1. Cooler summers with more light
2. warmer winters with more light
3. current trends is greenhouse require 200 Acres etc.
4. Unless there is a change the current market is saturated and the growth is South with Growers starting in Mexico, Texas, Utah

As for the ALR there is no logic to keep that land in the ALR there was a zoning change not to many years ago to remove a portion of the land.

The golf course is on a landfill site so it would not be ideal to redevelop

[cairnstone]

Originally Posted by gaviscon

Would it ever be possible to move out the graveyards near Brentwood and Metrotown? Takes up so much space on prime land and it's kind of bizarre to have that kind of area right beside a "downtown"

We don't have so much space to build on the Lower Mainland as is.

Its private land and very actively used and people get to excited when you mess with them

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by fredinno

They could make it a park and transfer some of the other parkland into condos instead.

That's probably a more feasible and preferable solution, but I still see them having problems with the first part of it,....
(making the case for relocating the grave sites and getting the living relatives to buy into it.)

And where would they move them to, and how long before even that new location gets eyed for redevelopment down the road?

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

I see that even a possible new City Hall proposal is not spared the wrath of the notorious Nimby McNimberson Esq.


https://www.burnabynow.com/opinion/opinions-a-new-burnaby-city-hall-not-so-fast-6968867

Talking about traffic congestion and lack of parking as reasons to not relocate it to Metrotown.

Does the present City Hall attract a great deal of traffic and vehicular congestion where it's currently located at Highway 1?

I wonder how much these people will protest of the proposal is paired with a proposal for a replacement Rec. Center (and possible community center) at the current Bonsor location.

I mean... there is no 100% reason to locate a City Hall and admin buildings in the middle of downtown. Vancouver doesn't even do that.

However the current location doesn't have great transit access. That needs to change. I love doing work in New West because I can just use the train to get to the admin offices from my office in Vancouver.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

I mean... there is no 100% reason to locate a City Hall and admin buildings in the middle of downtown. Vancouver doesn't even do that.

However the current location doesn't have great transit access. That needs to change. I love doing work in New West because I can just use the train to get to the admin offices from my office in Vancouver.

Yeah I had to laugh at the writers who say that the current Burnaby City Hall has good transit access vs building it near an Expo Skytrain station. The suggestion about building it at the old Safeway site at Royal Oak and Kingsway isn't bad though.

[cairnstone]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Yeah I had to laugh at the writers who say that the current Burnaby City Hall has good transit access vs building it near an Expo Skytrain station. The suggestion about building it at the old Safeway site at Royal Oak and Kingsway isn't bad though.

I thought there was a tower going in there. Forget who the developer is though

[madog222]

Originally Posted by cairnstone

I thought there was a tower going in there. Forget who the developer is though

Combie REIT owns it, there hasn't been any proposal yet.

Originally Posted by Sheba

I figure this is the best spot to post about the lack of anything happening at 5235 Kingsway (the Safeway that used to be at the corner of Royal Oak). There's an article from Jan 2018 Sobeys to close two Safeway stores in Burnaby that says:


Meanwhile Crombie says:


I don't know that I'd go so far as call it a "high profile site" - it's outside of the Metrotown downtown area and part of the Royal Oak urban village area. That particular site is marked as "medium density mixed use" along Kingsway and "medium density multiple family residential" for the two adjacent sites.

There's a link to "view report" on Crombie's site but it's expired so no idea what it said. Burnaby Major Developments has nothing listed - and it lists low rises and townhouses so surely if there was any movement it would be listed.

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

I mean... there is no 100% reason to locate a City Hall and admin buildings in the middle of downtown. Vancouver doesn't even do that.

However the current location doesn't have great transit access. That needs to change. I love doing work in New West because I can just use the train to get to the admin offices from my office in Vancouver.

I believe this was one of the primary reasons why they were doing it (aside from the current building being more or less out-of-date and under serving their current requirements).

They wanted something more accessible (to the general public) and the most accessible location would be somewhere close to a major transit hub, which the Metrotown Skytrain station and Bus loop happen to be.
(second only to Waterfront Station in Downtown now as the most frequented for boardings and foot-traffic having overtaken Commercial Broadway during the pandemic period).

Which is why it was a bit baffling to read some of those Nimby complaints about traffic congestion, when part of the idea for the relocation is they want to be somewhere where one doesn't have to or need to use a car to get to them.
The current situation is the opposite wherein it's less convenient to get there for non-car drivers.

Vancouver's City hall doesn't need to be downtown because it's literally next door to a major transit hub themselves, and for that reason it's more convenient and accessible than the current Burnaby City Hall is to Burnabians (...is that word?).

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by cairnstone

I thought there was a tower going in there. Forget who the developer is though

There can't be anything taller than 6 storeys there since that site sits just outside the Metrotown Downtown "Core" designation, and the city sees it as part of the Royal Oak "village" residential district.

I believe the City will be looking to build something more substantial than that in terms of height and space since part of their rationale for relocating is a requirement for space for staff and such.

I mean,...they could make an exception for themselves since they are the ones issuing the permit, and decide to build something bigger than the OCP designates. But then they'd likely get a ton of pushback and complaints for that.
And rightly so.

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

That's probably a more feasible and preferable solution, but I still see them having problems with the first part of it,....
(making the case for relocating the grave sites and getting the living relatives to buy into it.)

And where would they move them to, and how long before even that new location gets eyed for redevelopment down the road?

Moving the planned school on Concord Brentwood to the midrises at Brent Gardens + the cemeteries would double the available public land for the school's park (more if you add the SFHs on the north side of the cemetery.)


Dunno, move it to some non-ALR land near Stave Lake or above the 12,000 ft barrier in West Vancouver.

No one's developing there anytime soon (within the next 50 years.)

[GenWhy?]

Anyone know who owns the land adjacent the Edmonds bus loop?

A re-jig of the fields north of Patterson might be in order. Line City buildings along Kingsway as a noise wall for the park.

[madog222]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

Anyone know who owns the land adjacent the Edmonds bus loop?

BC Hydro. The bus loop is actually part of that parcel.
It's seems there has been some work on remediating the site in recent years. https://csapsociety.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/19-056-2019-11-18-Site-22164-CoC-and-cover-ltr.pdf