Burnaby Updates

[Tysonbrown]

Vancouver is NOT in the photo above. This is a photograph of "The 3 Burnaby's" "; Metrotown, Brentwood is to the left and waaaaay off in the distance is Lougheed.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Tysonbrown

Vancouver is NOT in the photo above. This is a photograph of "The 3 Burnaby's" "; Metrotown, Brentwood is to the left and waaaaay off in the distance is Lougheed.

Not to burst your bubble or anything, but Vancouver is in the foreground since that's the intersection of Kingsway and Boundary Road.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by fredinno

Vancouver IMO has the opposite problem to Burnaby- they have all SFHs to max 1.0 FAR, but don't allow enough towers around stations like Joyce and Nanaimo to actually make them 'hubs' for activity.

This really doesn't have anything to do with the Burnaby thread, but there's a recent plan for Joyce to allow more development. There's already a tower proposed on Payne, a big twin tower rental project on Vanness, another tower on Joyce (having design issues), and the Westbank rental tower under construction. There are several midrise projects approved nearby as well.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Even Nanaimo's getting a hub (eventually); Vancouver's solving its half of the problem... Burnaby, not so much. And upzoning the SFH stock generally adds more density than a hub or two.

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by Changing City

This really doesn't have anything to do with the Burnaby thread, but there's a recent plan for Joyce to allow more development. There's already a tower proposed on Payne, a big twin tower rental project on Vanness, another tower on Joyce (having design issues), and the Westbank rental tower under construction. There are several midrise projects approved nearby as well.

I was going to respond to Klazu, but I realized he is mostly talking about the difference in height between this proposal and Wall Centre Central Park. Even adding the four additional 30-story buildings you mentioned to Joyce-Collingwood won't address his point when the Boot towers will be twice that size.

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Even Nanaimo's getting a hub (eventually); Vancouver's solving its half of the problem... Burnaby, not so much. And upzoning the SFH stock generally adds more density than a hub or two.

Klazu's point is about height, not the number of units. Unless the Nanaimo hub has 60+ story towers Vancouver will not impress him.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Yeah, the whole thing stinks of suburbanites wanting to "prove" something to everybody else, kind of like new money.

[ecbin]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

And when they run out of walkups? Vancouver's speeding up, yeah, but Burnaby looks like they're going to slow down - again, they don't even like laneways.

Burnaby is completely hand wavy about addressing housing or livability - 10 years behind Vancouver on laneways and going to be over 10 years for duplexes and totally nowhere with townhouses.

They're building giant condo towers as a convenient way build up their reserve fund (now $2B), a fund they basically do nothing with despite its growth.

Sidewalks? No. Crosswalks? Only when someone gets hit by a car. Street lights? No.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

I was going to respond to Klazu, but I realized he is mostly talking about the difference in height between this proposal and Wall Centre Central Park. Even adding the four additional 30-story buildings you mentioned to Joyce-Collingwood won't address his point when the Boot towers will be twice that size.

Actually it was fredinno who said there was no plan for extra density at Joyce. But Klazu made the comment about the height of the Boot Towers and those across the street. Ignoring the fact that the Boot Towers look a bit 'stretched' in the render (as the Wall towers are 32 floors, and the tallest is proposed at 63) they still don't match up in density to the Joyce towers in Vancouver. My guess is that the Burnaby project will be around 10 FAR (or a little less), while the four taller Joyce towers so far submitted are between 11.3 and 16.0 FSR.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

.


Source:-
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/telus-bo...777-3791-kingsway-burnaby-rental-housing

Looks good except... get rid of the stepped grid on the two eastern site towers.

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by Changing City

Actually it was fredinno who said there was no plan for extra density at Joyce. But Klazu made the comment about the height of the Boot Towers and those across the street. Ignoring the fact that the Boot Towers look a bit 'stretched' in the render (as the Wall towers are 32 floors, and the tallest is proposed at 63) they still don't match up in density to the Joyce towers in Vancouver. My guess is that the Burnaby project will be around 10 FAR (or a little less), while the four taller Joyce towers so far submitted are between 11.3 and 16.0 FSR.

I never said there was no plan with Joyce.

There is- there's just not enough density allowed under the current plans to make it more of a 'true hub'- especially as Nanaimo and Joyce are minor bus hubs (like Braid.)
(I also don't like how Vancouver micromanages tower placement there, but that's a different problem.)
It's especially underwhelming, since Vancouver certainly has the capability to host more density there in terms of public facilities- it just chooses not to (eg. Sir Guy Carleton is apparently not coming back- which is insane for a school neear SkyTrain.)

The current towers are fine, just 'widen' out the tower area to the entire walkable distance from the station.

Compare the Joyce Plan to something like the Bainbridge Plan, and it's kind of lacking.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Looks good except... get rid of the stepped grid on the two eastern site towers.

The stepped grid can work on the tower in the foreground as along as it goes all the way to the bottom of the tower the entire width.

The tower in the background doesn’t need it and just looks distracting.

[logan5]

Gotta respect their honesty. They didn't try to disguise the seafoam glass.

[Sheba]

I got a postcard about this in the mail - Edmonds Town Centre Community Plan

The survey is open (and it's longer than I expected).

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

If you don't know the area it can actually be confusing to navigate from the pathway next to the guideway in Central Park to where the BC Pkwy resumes at Boundary/Vanness. It requires biking or walking along the south side of Kingsway to the Kingsway/Boundary intersection, waiting for that traffic signal, then proceeding to the Vannes/Boundary intersection where you have to wait for another traffic signal.

This is only made more frustrating by the presence of a path between the Boot and the guideway (you can clearly see it on Google maps). All it would take is a mixed use bridge over Kingsway to make travelling on the Pkwy much more pleasant.

i just checked. well that's dumb. i have never used that path, and didnt grow up in the area so didn't know how it worked. i always just assumed it went over the bridge on Kingsway from the boot. that overpass is literally just to get to/from telus? fancy.

[logan5]

I can't believe they will actually limit Royal Oak to 30 story towers. Burnaby is a condo tower junkie.

[Lexus]

2023, June 16

Alaska Street

Untitled by Lexus LX600, on Flickr


Untitled by Lexus LX600, on Flickr

Untitled by Lexus LX600, on Flickr

Untitled by Lexus LX600, on Flickr

[Migrant_Coconut]

City of Burnaby to create its own housing authority under a municipal corporation this year

After conducting initial planning and research last year, the City of Burnaby has indicated it plans to launch the Burnaby Housing Authority (BHA) before the end of 2023.

As the name suggests, the entity will focus on growing Burnaby’s supply of below-market housing — not just below-market rental housing, but also below-market homeownership opportunities. It will also aim to introduce more market rental housing if such projects can incorporate and help subsidize below-market units...

So I guess they are doing something with the reserve fund? Good news if so.

[ecbin]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

City of Burnaby to create its own housing authority under a municipal corporation this year

So I guess they are doing something with the reserve fund? Good news if so.

It never surprises me when Burnaby chooses solutions to the housing crisis that take the longest to have impact or that will have the least impact rather than choose things like mass up zoning.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by ecbin

It never surprises me when Burnaby chooses solutions to the housing crisis that take the longest to have impact or that will have the least impact rather than choose things like mass up zoning.

That's actually not all Burnaby Council are trying to do, but they're having a bit of a problem getting that across to staff. Council requested a report on achieving more affordable housing in Burnaby, and got one that said that some developers are struggling to create the 20% below-market housing required, and recommended allowing even more condos so that the affordable units get built.

Council unanimously rejected that, saying that wasn't what they wanted - they didn't ask for more condos, they wanted ways to create affordable units, and not just in the City Centres. So the report has to come back again.

Did Burnaby councillors really reject a plan to allow developers to build more condos? Yes.