Burnaby Updates

[NetMapel]

Originally Posted by officedweller

I seem to recall that the Douglas / Lougheed intersection will be closed and Douglas diverted into Dawson - but I could be wrong.
If it's closed, a bike path could be built through there.

Oh? Are you saying there’s a plan to turn the Douglas/Lougheed intersection into a T-intersection where cars can only go along Lougheed or make turn with Delta? That would certainly be interesting and I didn’t know that’s the plan. At least from what I’ve seen so far per my photos, that doesn’t seem to be the plan in the near future. The current construction is related to some water pipes but I don’t see any indication of permanently closing Douglas off of Lougheed.

Holdom overpass plans move forward in Burnaby





They are going ahead with Holdom overpass though so maybe it will be something done along with this plan? It looks like they’ll be closing off Douglas off from being continuous and will be stopping just south of the CN rail there. If you’re north of Douglas and want to head south, I guess you will need to go along Goring and then cross the Holdom overpass. So if they close off Lougheed/Douglas, then I guess the westbound road there would be along Dawson or they can go eastbound via Goring.

The city is working with the port to pre-approve an alternate pedestrian and cycle-only path at a different location at a future date.

Could this be the possible Beta overpass that I’ve seen whispered about before? Or maybe something else along Douglas? Build a pedestrian/cycling bridge straight from Lougheed/Douglas to cross the CN rails and ramp down to Central Valley Greenway if that intersection is to be closed? So many possibilities!

[officedweller]

That's right - Douglas will stop south of the tracks but also end in a cul-de-sac before Lougheed.

I found this from the Gilmore Station application (Dawson St. becomes Goring St.).
Also note the additional overpass over the CN tracks east of Concord Brentwood's School/Park marked "Westminster Extension",
which could line up with Delta Ave. if it were extended down through the park/buffer.


https://pub-burnaby.escribemeetings....cumentId=33871

... but Concord Brentwood's master plan seems to prevent that Westminster Extension road/bridge:


https://www.concordbrentwood.com/masterplan.html

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by officedweller

That's right - Douglas will stop south of the tracks but also end in a cul-de-sac before Lougheed.

I found this from the Gilmore Station application (Dawson St. becomes Goring St.).
Also note the additional overpass over the CN tracks east of Concord Brentwood's School/Park marked "Westminster Extension",
which could line up with Delta Ave. if it were extended down through the park/buffer.

Here's a 1997 report on the closure of Douglas. It noted that the Burnaby Transportation Plan at the time didn't refer to any closure of Douglas. I tried to see if it's mentioned in the new Transportation Plan from December 2021, and it doesn't seem that either a closure of Douglas or a Westminster Extension are explicitly included.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Changing City

Here's a 1997 report on the closure of Douglas. It noted that the Burnaby Transportation Plan at the time didn't refer to any closure of Douglas. I tried to see if it's mentioned in the new Transportation Plan from December 2021, and it doesn't seem that either a closure of Douglas or a Westminster Extension are explicitly included.

That report does show the Westminster Extension as a dashed line and arrow (primary collector), but it also shows pedetrian overpasses over Lougheed (ie in connection with LRT/SkyTrain stations, included a rejected Delta Station).
The right-in, right-out option could be why later Burnaby Development Permit Applications (such as Grosvenor Brentwood) have maps that still show an intersection at Lougheed & Douglas.

[NetMapel]

Woah those maps show a rather different configuration of Brentwood Drive housing there. Riding the sky train through there I know it’s a row of condos along Lougheed. These maps don’t have a row of houses there and also show a cul-de-sac at the current Brentwood Drive / Delta intersection? Curious if that means Burnaby is looking to redevelop that piece of land within Ridgelawn, Lougheed, Beta and Delta.

[Sheba]

Cardboard exam lights and foam beds: Touring the new Burnaby Hospital before it's built

In a nondescript warehouse in Burnaby, doctors and nurses have been moving cardboard exam lights, foam furniture, and code-red-button stickers inside life-size replicas of the operating and exam rooms that will one day be the heart and soul of the city’s hospital redevelopment.

It was a bit like playing in a giant doll house, right down to the plastic baby on the make-believe scale in the fake trauma room. But with much higher stakes.

The clinical teams worked with architects and the construction contractor to figure out the most optimal size and location for all the gear that must fit in these rooms: sinks, patient lifts, glove dispensers, IV poles, and much more.

...

Over the past two weeks, about 10 teams from various Burnaby Hospital departments, including maternity, mental health and surgery, have toured through the mock-ups to provide feedback to the architects planning the $1.3-billion upgrade, which will add two new patient-care towers with an expanded emergency department, a new cancer treatment centre and about 100 new beds.

“This is really, really helpful because the front-line staff actually have the opportunity to show what’s meaningful to them,” said nurse Sarah Bell.

“There’s always the fear that the people who are designing this, with all the best of intentions, don’t actually have to use the equipment, and they don’t actually have to go and mix up the medications, or get something out of the fridge, etc. So, I think this just gives us the opportunity to really make sure that the space works for us.”

...

Although the Burnaby clinical teams said it was unique for them to provide this feedback while inside a full-scale cut-out of their future work space, the approach is becoming common, said Anita Wempe, chief clinical planner for the hospital’s redevelopment.

Typically, when construction companies bid for hospital contracts, they must now promise to build these mock-ups before the official building gets started, Wempe added. In this case, the make-believe rooms and equipment were created by EllisDon, which is doing the first phase of the Burnaby development.

Similar hospital-room mock-ups have been used recently when Fraser Health planned the Royal Columbian acute care tower addition, when Providence designed the new St. Paul’s, and when Vancouver Coastal Health prepared for a new tower at Lions Gate.

...

The Burnaby redevelopment will begin with a six-storey pavilion with 83 patient rooms, a maternity unit, an in-patient area with outbreak zones to isolate those with infectious diseases, and a space for patients struggling with mental health and substance problems. The second phase is to include a new surgery centre and emergency department expansions.

Construction is scheduled to be completed in 2026.


A rendering of what the redeveloped Burnaby Hospital will look like when it is completed.
Construction is scheduled to be finished in 2026. Photo courtesy Fraser Health jpg

[Lexus]

I heard the there is now internal concept plans for the future City Hall. The concept plan has it envisioned at Metrotown and it spans over the SkyTrain line. Can't wait to see it.

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by Lexus

I heard the there is now internal concept plans for the future City Hall. The concept plan has it envisioned at Metrotown and it spans over the SkyTrain line. Can't wait to see it.

I can't really see anywhere in the Metrotown area around the Skytrain line where they would be able to build it.

The only possible lots that could be potentially available are the one next door to Moda to the west (although that's owned by Matchpoint Developments, with plans to develop it into strata towers.......unless they sold it to the city)
....or next door to them to the East where the school currently is.
But both of those are on the "residential" side of Beresford and Central Avenues and I don't think they would want to build a civic headquarters there.

On the north side it's all commercial and all the Mall, so maybe a deal was struck with the Mall owners to develop part of the Bus loop or those parkades next the Metrotowers.

I would have thought that a City Hall at Metrotown would be better situated closer to Kingsway or possibly somewhere on the northern side of Kingsway.

Most of the lots adjacent to the Skytrain line are already developed or bought out for future redevelopment all the way from the Patterson area in the west to where the line meets up with and crosses over Imperial Ave. on the east - by which point you're at the SFH area and neighbourhood.
Maybe they take over and redevelop part of the Bonsor park and recreation area? (likely lots of public outcry with that plan, if they do).
I guess it all depends on how big this City Hall would be.


I'll be looking forward to seeing those plans.
I hope they release them soon.

[Lexus]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

I can't really see anywhere in the Metrotown area around the Skytrain line where they would be able to build it.

The only possible lots that could be potentially available are the one next door to Moda to the west (although that's owned by Matchpoint Developments, with plans to develop it into strata towers.......unless they sold it to the city)
....or next door to them to the East where the school currently is.
But both of those are on the "residential" side of Beresford and Central Avenues and I don't think they would want to build a civic headquarters there.

On the north side it's all commercial and all the Mall, so maybe a deal was struck with the Mall owners to develop part of the Bus loop or those parkades next the Metrotowers.

I would have thought that a City Hall at Metrotown would be better situated closer to Kingsway or possibly somewhere on the northern side of Kingsway.

Most of the lots adjacent to the Skytrain line are already developed or bought out for future redevelopment all the way from the Patterson area in the west to where the line meets up with and crosses over Imperial Ave. on the east - by which point you're at the SFH area and neighbourhood.
Maybe they take over and redevelop part of the Bonsor park and recreation area? (likely lots of public outcry with that plan, if they do).
I guess it all depends on how big this City Hall would be.


I'll be looking forward to seeing those plans.
I hope they release them soon.

I'm thinking about Bosnor Park too. I just know that they want it purposely build near SkyTrain. Millennium Line still an option and I'm sure there will be engagement with staff and public before they pick location. It should be much bigger, as the current Hall one does not fit all staff for a while now, staff moved to Deer Lake I and II across the street. Other newer buildings such as Still Creek Works Yard were already at capacity as soon as the were built.
I hear this is all 10 years away anyways..... I'm sure nothing will be released to the public before election in October.

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by Lexus

I'm thinking about Bosnor Park too. I just know that they want it purposely build near SkyTrain. Millennium Line still an option and I'm sure there will be engagement with staff and public before they pick location. It should be much bigger, as the current Hall one does not fit all staff for a while now, staff moved to Deer Lake I and II across the street. Other newer buildings such as Still Creek Works Yard were already at capacity as soon as the were built.
I hear this is all 10 years away anyways..... I'm sure nothing will be released to the public before election in October.

Oh, I totally understand the impulse to want to build it adjacent to, or accessible to public transit and a major public transit hub.

Vancouver's City hall is merely a block away from the Broadway-Cambie line Skytrain station and soon to be the nexus of two lines once the Broadway VCC-UBC subway line gets built out.

Ideally it's supposed to be accessible as much as possible to anyone that can/would use public transit to get to it, so the closer to the Metrotown Skytrain and Bus Loop as possible, the better.

The Bonsor park area and option - while ticking a lot of the aforementioned boxes - would still meet a lot of both SFH resistance and public outcry as well as (in this case largely justified) general NIMBY pushback.
The one case in which I would actually agree with NIMBY's.

But then it may not necessarily have to take over the whole park and center, and maybe a deal could reached where part of the park becomes the new city hall while the rest of the facilities get a major (and much needed) facelift, refurbishment and expansion.

But yeah, 10 years sounds about right for beginning to get it into the public consciousness now that this is coming down the pike, and it could even evolve in concert with the plans to break up the Mall next door - of which we've already seen several concept ideations and images and an initiation of public engagement from Ivanhoe Cambridge - even though that one is planned for something like an 80 year build out.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Lexus

I heard the there is now internal concept plans for the future City Hall. The concept plan has it envisioned at Metrotown and it spans over the SkyTrain line. Can't wait to see it.

I don't know about the rest of you but when I read that it was literally as right over the Skytrain line, like at Main Street or New West stations. I really cannot see that happening here.

Somewhere in the vicinity, yeah I can see that happening. Have they figured out where they're putting in the events centre yet? There are probably multiple buildings they've decided they want in 'downtown Burnaby' without really thinking about where yet, and they really need to start figuring it out before the area is built out.

[officedweller]

Bonsor or the library site come to mind to me as well.
Spanning Central Blvd / Beresford would be a crazy long span - seems unlikely to me.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Bonsor or the library site come to mind to me as well.
Spanning Central Blvd / Beresford would be a crazy long span - seems unlikely to me.

I doubt either of those locations would be used as they're some of the limited park space in the middle of the area - and their planning map still shows them as green space. I thought back to someone commenting on reuse of the current bus loop and came across this Daily Hive article from last year.

...

An events and convention centre is a key feature for the city’s 2017-approved Downtown Metrotown Plan, which calls for the eventual redevelopment of Metropolis at Metrotown shopping mall. This cultural and entertainment venue is slated for existing mall property next SkyTrain’s Metrotown Station.

A new city staff report that will be reviewed by city council this week outlines a possible concept with a total floor area of 196,380 sq. ft., within the equivalent height of a five-storey building on a five-acre lot.

This includes a 60,000 sq. ft. event hall, designed with a flat floor, as opposed to a rigid theatre with fixed seating. It will be a multi-purpose event space that can host a large single event, such as concerts and performances, or be configured into two separate 30,000 sq. ft. spaces with events that can occur simultaneously.

...

As well, the identified preferred option calls for a new 36,000 sq. ft. art gallery, with 13,000 sq. ft. dedicated specifically for exhibition areas and visitor services.

The art gallery will be within its own standalone building next to the convention centre, and amounts to a relocation of Burnaby Art Gallery’s collections within Burnaby Village Museum administration building and Ceperley House.

A large outdoor public plaza that separates the convention centre and art gallery buildings will be capable of hosting community events, gathering space for public meetings and presentations, performances, and exhibitions related to the art gallery.

(large image)

...

[hollywoodnorth]

the only place to easily span the Skytrain would be just WEST of PATTERSON station. but its an odd area for a City hall.

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

the only place to easily span the Skytrain would be just WEST of PATTERSON station. but its an odd area for a City hall.

That would essentially mean building it on Central Park (or cannibalizing part of it).

That's probably a No-No.

Even building it on the lawn area/fields just north of the skytrain line but not all the way to the baseball fields would be a tough sell for the City to the residents of the area and against the inevitable incoming NIMBY criticism and pushback they would get.

And isn't that just around the area where Burnaby has it's lone viewcone restriction area?

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

That would essentially mean building it on Central Park (or cannibalizing part of it).

That's probably a No-No.

Even building it on the lawn area/fields just north of the skytrain line but not all the way to the baseball fields would be a tough sell for the City to the residents of the area and against the inevitable incoming NIMBY criticism and pushback they would get.

And isn't that just around the area where Burnaby has it's lone viewcone restriction area?

Well they said Metrotown so it wouldn't be next to Patterson.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Pretty sure it's just somebody dreaming out loud. The viaducts removal team wanted a tower straddling the bikeway... and that never worked out.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

And isn't that just around the area where Burnaby has it's lone viewcone restriction area?

Yeah Burnaby's only viewcone is between Central Park and Brentwood.

[logan5]

Building over the tracks at Willingdon across from the library would make sense, with the eventuality of the elevated tracks being buried by development from Willingdon to around Imperial. The tracks make Metrotown feel suburban.

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by logan5

Building over the tracks at Willingdon across from the library would make sense, with the eventuality of the elevated tracks being buried by development from Willingdon to around Imperial. The tracks make Metrotown feel suburban.

Not to mention the fact that that Willingdon-Central Avenue corner would be right around where a Terminus station for the proposed Metrotown-Brentwood-Hastings-North shore skytrain/Subway extension like could potentially be, linking it with the Millennium line.

Even though they've shelved the plans for that purple line extension for the time being in favour of rapidbuses.

But yeah, the more I think about it now, building it where the library is now, and either relocating the library altogether or repositioning it within a larger complex there, would tick all their boxes (re: close to transit/skytrain; center of Metrotown, etc) with minimum fuss of displacing green spaces or parks and dealing with public criticism.

If they did plan to build it with an eye to such an extension station being built there in the future and being in the vicinity or even within their complex, you could either be talking about a subway station that connects to the Skytrain station to link the lines or an above grade skytrain line station with an overheard pedestrian walkway, again connecting to the existing Metrotown Centre Skytrain station.
It would be one hell of an undertaking indeed.