[North Vancouver] Lower Lonsdale | Rebirth of a Neighbourhood - Page 5

CameronT120 · #81 Posted **Jan 21, 2011, 6:44 PM**

Presentation boards for the Lonsdale & 13th proposal from the CNV site:

http://www.cnv.org/attach/2011%2001%...em%2011del.pdf

http://www.cnv.org/attach/2011%2001%...ttach%2002.pdf

officedweller · #82 Posted **Jan 21, 2011, 10:50 PM**

Thanks for posting

Those are massive CRUs on the 2nd and 3rd floors! A Wal-Mart could move in there!

I don't like the way the tower on 14th St. has a lower podium than the 13th St. side of the project, especially with what looks like a blank wall on the north side of the podium.

CameronT120 · #83 Posted **Jan 21, 2011, 11:14 PM**

Hopefully the plan is for something a little more upscale than a Wal-mart! I think I'd prefer to see the towers set back from the facade of the podium along 13th street. There needs to be a transition, otherwise the massing is going to be quite shocking.

jozero · #84 Posted **Jan 26, 2011, 6:51 AM**

Interesting letter to home owners around Low Road. My in laws got the letter, I didn't receive the same in lower Lonsdale.

___
Low Level Road Improvement Project

Its the Port, Translink and City of North Van.

- eliminate at grade rail crossings including St. Patrick and St Andrew.
- realign road to address congestion and safety
- provide dedicated bike lanes and pedestrian sidewalks
- enhance spirit trail including grade-seperated crossing at 3rd street.

February 10th community meeting
5.30 - 8.30 Pinnacle hotel
___

Good stuff. I hope Esplanade retains its interesting mix of mechanic shops and light industrial near low level road. Its great to hear they are making some improvements to that area. The connection from the Pier part of the Spirit Trail along Esplanade to the trail by the Low Road is especially poor.

wrenegade · #85 Posted **Jan 26, 2011, 5:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jozero

Good stuff. I hope Esplanade retains its interesting mix of mechanic shops and light industrial near low level road. Its great to hear they are making some improvements to that area. The connection from the Pier part of the Spirit Trail along Esplanade to the trail by the Low Road is especially poor.

Thanks for posting this, I also didn't get any letter (at 3rd & Lonsdale). The area of Low Level Road/Esplanade between St. Patricks and St. Georges is lousy, especially the Spirit Trail connection. I run down there all the time, looking forward to having a better trail. I wonder if they'll add a separated pedestrian crossing?

Pinion · #86 Posted **Jan 26, 2011, 5:55 PM**

"enhance spirit trail including grade-seperated (sic) crossing at 3rd street."

What exactly does that mean for 3rd st? Just a raised or lowered trail? And how far along 3rd?

I didn't get that notice either and I live on 3rd.

wrenegade · #87 Posted **Jan 26, 2011, 6:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinion

What exactly does that mean for 3rd st? Just a raised or lowered trail? And how far along 3rd?

My guess would be an elevated crossing here:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&...102.69,,0,9.96

Just a guess though. Also, for those who don't know, the hill here is no longer 2 lanes westbound/1 lane eastbound, it is 1 lane in either direction since they added bike lanes. I was quite disappointed as I HATE getting stuck behind buses going up the hill. I don't drive it all that often so I guess I can't complain too much.

Pinion · #88 Posted **Jan 27, 2011, 1:56 AM**

What sort of crazy biker goes up/down that hill rather than go down St Andrews to the waterfront and ride the flat road by the rail tracks? I don't think I've ever seen a bike on that hill.

jozero · #89 Posted **Jan 27, 2011, 7:12 AM**

Oh wow, if they are hoping to start the 3rd street crossing it would be a huge step for the Spirit Trail. The original Spirit Trail plans call for two bridges. One is being constructed now over the CN tracks where Welch meets 1st street. The other is at 3rd where Spirit trail ends abruptly. The Spirit Trail vision is to go all the way to Deep Cove, and the documents also mentions the original North Vancouver plan of the 'green necklace' joining quite a few of the parks. The crossing at 3rd would go a long way towards both goals.

Pinion I've biked that hill. This is what is exciting about biking, it makes whats mundane in a car absolutely a thrill or a great hard work out.... but yeah truthfully mostly I wimp out and go on the low road.

wrenegade · #90 Posted **Feb 11, 2011, 5:30 PM**

The public hearing for 222-238 Lonsdale (The Versatile Building) was held last night. I wasn't able to stay for the whole thing, but saw all the the developer's presentation. I can honestly say I have never seen a developer (Intracorp) go so far out of their way to cater to individuals who are going to be affected by this development. They went as far as going into people's suites in my building (The Calypso), taking photographs and using them to mock up the view impact. They also did shadow studies with 3D modelling and pinpointed the exact start and end dates/times (November 3rd and 3pm and February 10th at 4pm) when the building across the street will be affected by the proposed building's shadow. Basically all the people's objections are ridiculous. The massive 280' Observatory building on West 2nd casts a much larger shadow than this one.

As for changes to the building, Intracorp has lowered the rooftop parapet wall by 3' in one area and is using a more expensive elevator solution to put most of the mechanical equipment in the basement of the parkade and has lowered the mechanical penthouse by 9'. The overall building height has been reduced 1' to 57'. I think it's a great looking building and I hope it goes through. It's too bloody bad for the half dozen people who are losing their view because this is a 5 storey building instead of a 4. Makes me furious this people.

Anyways, if you live in the neighbourhood, I urge you to write staff and council and express your support for the proposal.

Jocelyne Piercy (staff):
[email protected]
Attn Mayor Mussatto and Council:
[email protected]

jozero · #91 Posted **Feb 11, 2011, 6:47 PM**

The open house for the low road re-alignment was also last night. It was put on by the City and had a brochure and boards explaining the changes. After a seeing a picture of the changes it is much more radical than I originally thought.

The plan is to elevate the entire low road providing a raised barrier between the trains and the road. This will also help prevent the flooding of the road. The plan is also to widen it to have better sidewalks and bike paths. There will be three bridges built then for the dock/train workers. Nice thing about this is it would open that swatch of unused land right by the water up for access. Lastly this proposal would realign and actually remove some of the work done for the spirit train in favor of a bike path that goes along the road.
Essentially, it looks like they want to turn Low Road into a higher profile through fare, likely to reduce the congestion on 3rd as the population density increases.

As an aside. The room was rather packed, but packed with 'grey hairs'. Obviously they should have their say, but its important people of all ages show up. When I walk around lower North Vancouver I see younger people and younger families, where were they? If you do read this forum and are of a younger age consider going to these input meetings. It doesn't matter what you write down at these community meetings, it just matters that you say it.

FountainHead2 · #92 Posted **Feb 17, 2011, 7:07 AM**

The proposed Low Level Road Improvement Project will address noise pollution problems caused by train whistling at 3 uncontrolled crossings in Lower Lonsdale. The proposal is to close these 3 crossings and build 2 overpasses for vehicles to access waterfront businesses. Closing the uncontrolled crossings will improve the overall safety of the area and eliminate the need for train whistling. See http://northvanrailrant.com/ for how rail noise has affected local residents.

wrenegade · #93 Posted **Feb 17, 2011, 5:02 PM**

^Thanks for that FountainHead. The website provided links to PMV and CNV respective websites that had info I had never seen before.

Port of Metro Vancouver:

http://portmetrovancouver.com/en/pro...ntProject.aspx

City of North Vancouver:

http://www.cnv.org/attach/2010%2012%...em%2011del.pdf

jozero · #94 Posted **Feb 18, 2011, 6:58 AM**

Its nice to get road improvements but The Port isn't doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. The plan is to push the new road a little north (there is a single road there currently in the middle of nowhere), this will allow The Port to add 2 new tracks. Also its hard to tell but the road is being elevated quite a bit. I'd say over 10 meters. If they also include a sound wall which more than likely will be needed to reduce road noise it will effect some views.

wrenegade · #95 Posted **Feb 18, 2011, 4:19 PM**

It's a pretty steep hill there, I'm not sure that there will be any views blocked, even with a sound wall (which I don't think is necessary). Unfortunately it looks like the timeline for completion isn't until 2014 so we have quite a wait for this.

wrenegade · #96 Posted **Mar 1, 2011, 5:27 PM**

Was anyone at the council meeting last night and know if Intracorp's rezoning variance passed? I spaced out and totally missed it, thought the meeting was next monday. Anyone?

Smooth · #97 Posted **Mar 1, 2011, 6:28 PM**

I'm moving into Lower Lonsdale today. I don't have a great view of downtown but I do have an epic view of Stanley Park to the Lions. I'll post some pictures when I get a sunny clear day.

Pinion · #98 Posted **Mar 2, 2011, 3:23 AM**

Welcome to the 'hood. Now that I have a car again (2011 Mazda2) I love it here.

Commute just went from 45-60 minutes to 15-20 minutes. Zoom zoom indeed.

wrenegade · #99 Posted **Mar 2, 2011, 11:34 PM**

I think? Intracorp's Versatile Building proposal was passed? I don't really understand all the council gobbledygook. There was an amendment to reduce average building height from 58' to 52', with exceptions for the corner parapet wall and mechanical appurtenance , but looking closer at the plans the proposal called for 53' in the first place? I don't know. Perhaps someone can read these documents better than I.

222-238 Lonsdale application

CNV February 28th, 2011 Council Minutes

Millennium2002 · #**100** Posted **Mar 3, 2011, 4:47 AM**

Not passed... seems like it's been moved on to a third reading at the next council meeting? =S I don't see mention in the council notes of it actually passing.