Thank you to everyone who has shown their support for Concert’s Harbourside in North Vancouver. Leading up to our recent Public Hearing, many wrote letters of support to the City and a number also took the time to attend the hearing and speak in favour of the project. At a recent Council meeting a favourable vote was cast for Harbourside’s rezoning application (second and third reading). Rezoning enactment will follow finalization of necessary agreements with the City.
The next step in the process is for Concert to advance the design development for phase one of the community in order to ultimately submit a development permit application. Concurrently, a City-led parks planning process with the community will serve to re-evaluate Kings Mill Walk park and determine the programming for the additional park space which Concert is dedicating to the City.
We look forward to taking the next steps on Harbourside and realizing our vision for the creation of an animated waterfront community in North Vancouver.
On the waterfront of North Vancouver lies Harbourside, a collection of lands partially developed by Concert into a business park. While zoning is in place to allow for a final phase of commercial space, Concert envisions a different fate for Harbourside – the creation of a vibrant, mixed-use community; a place to live, work, shop and play all in an attractive, highly-walkable and sustainable neighbourhood. Learn more
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Friday, March 28, 2014
Showing your support for Harbourside
With
Harbourside’s Public Hearing now just around the corner, there has never been a
better time for supporters to have their voices heard. How can you voice your
support?
The most
effective way for those who live or work in North Vancouver to have their say
would be to come and speak at the upcoming Public Hearing on April 1, see below
for details. For more information on what happens at a Public Hearing, click here.
Another
avenue for stakeholders to express their thoughts on the development would be sending
an email to the City Clerk. To streamline this process, Concert has created
a form on Harbourside’s website that generates an email to the City Clerk based
on the information a user inputs. Written submissions must be received no later
than 4:00 pm on Tuesday, April 1, 2014 to ensure their availability Council at
the Public Hearing. If you live or work in North Vancouver we would invite you
to submit this online form, click here to access. Please note: If you
work in North Vancouver, we would ask that you use your work address when
filling in the form.
Public Hearing
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
6:00 pm in Council Chambers
City of North Vancouver’s City Hall
Click here for map
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
6:00 pm in Council Chambers
City of North Vancouver’s City Hall
Click here for map
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Community Benefits & Public Infrastructure Improvements
In addition to supplemented transit service (see “Transit solution”)
and a number of economic benefits to the City of North Vancouver (see “Economic benefits”), the development of Harbourside will bring a host of other community
benefits and public infrastructure improvements including:
- Kings Mill Walk park expansion and improvements
- Spirit Trail enhancement and expansion
- Improvements to key road intersections
- Bewicke Avenue at grade crossing safety improvements
- Unique public art installations
- Habitat preservation measures
- Adaptive flood management design to protect against sea level rise
- Connection to the Lonsdale Energy Corporation's (LEC) district energy system
- Car share vehicles
- Additional public parking
In addition to funding specific community benefits and public
infrastructure improvements, Concert will also make a direct cash contribution
to the City of North Vancouver’s Community Amenity Reserve Fund.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Hot Topic Highlights
Over the past year – in an effort to
provide maximum transparency throughout the process – the Harbourside blog has
offered a series of timely “progress update” posts that have explained and
documented the extensive City and community engagement process. In addition, this
blog has dealt with the “hot topics” surrounding Concert’s plan for Harbourside.
Below is a compilation of some of the key Hot Topic posts that may be of
interest to newer readers of the blog.
Addressing parking at Harbourside
Posted on January 8, 2013 – Click here to learn more
Traffic concerns at Harbourside
Posted on January 16, 2013 – Click here to learn more
Preserving views
Posted on February 13, 2013 – Click here to learn more
Sustainability
Posted on February 21, 2013 – Click here to learn more
Creating a sense of place
Posted on March 20, 2013 – Click here to learn more
The Spirit Trail - Connecting
the North Shore communities
Posted on March 28, 2013 – Click here to learn more
Building upon Harbourside as a
destination
Posted on April 10, 2013 – Click here to learn more
How public art will foster a
sense of place
Posted on April 17, 2013 – Click here to learn more
Maintaining a commercial
capacity
Posted on May 22, 2013 – Clickhere to learn more
Guiding principals at
Harbourside
Posted on June 6, 2013 – Click here to learn more
Economic benefits
Posted on March 12, 2014 – Click here to learn more
Transit solution
Posted on March 17, 2014 – Clickhere to learn more
Public parks process
Posted on March 19, 2014 – Click here to learn more
Friday, March 21, 2014
Public Parks Process
Public park space is a key element of Concert’s overall plan
for making Harbourside an enviable place to live, work and enjoy. As such,
Concert is dedicating an additional acre to be used as public park space for
the community.
Conceptual renderings depicting this space have been included
in Concert’s rezoning application, but these are for visualization purposes
only. Should Concert’s rezoning application be approved at the upcoming Public
Hearing on April 1, one of the next steps will be a Concert-funded, City-led
public parks process designed to engage
the community in determining how the public park space adjacent to the
development should be programmed.
The City will be inviting the community to come and
participate in a variety of public events aimed at teasing out what they would
like to see. The park space will be shaped through the community feedback
gathered over the course of this comprehensive community consultation process.
City staff will use this feedback in the programming of the park space.
Concert has set aside an allowance to fund the City-led
process, the park’s design based on community feedback and ultimately, the
construction of the space.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Harbourside’s Transit Solution
It has long been acknowledged that managing
traffic and transportation is key to the success of Harbourside’s development.
While there are numerous improvements proposed which aim to enhance on-street
traffic flow and parking availability, keeping cars off the road in the first
place through providing adequate transit service is a key component of Concert’s
plan.
Currently, there is a TransLink bus
service that connects Lonsdale Quay with Harbourside. However, this service is limited
to morning “in” and evening “out” peak hours, and as such creates a barrier for
many to adopting transit use. In an effort to directly address this challenge, Concert
has been working collaboratively with TransLink and the City for some time in
order to create a solution to the area’s existing transit shortage.
TransLink has now approved Concert’s
proposal to provide a private independent shuttle between Harbourside and
Lonsdale Quay in order to supplement existing transit service. Concert’s shuttle
service is slated to begin in conjunction with occupancy of the first phase of
Harbourside, and will continue until TransLink implements additional service.
Concert is proud to have worked collaboratively
with TransLink prior to the construction of a development in order to ensure
there is adequate transit service. As a result, this new independent shuttle
service will make transit ridership a viable alternative to driving personal
vehicles to and from Harbourside.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Economic Benefits
Real estate developments today almost
always bring a variety of benefits to the community as a result of their
construction. These can generally be divided into two categories: community benefits
and economic benefits. Today, we outline some of the economic benefits associated
with the development of Harbourside.
Public Infrastructure
Through Harbourside’s development,
Concert will invest in infrastructure and related public realm improvements to
the area. Included in this category would be road works, on and off-site
traffic and transportation improvements (see “Traffic concerns at Harbourside”), and the implementation of an innovative flood management strategy.
Job Creation
During Harbourside’s construction, over
4,500 person-years of construction employment would be created over the
project’s 10 to 15 year build-out period. Once complete, Harbourside will bring
over 1,500 additional full-time jobs to North Vancouver through the new commercial
and retail spaces.
Tax Revenue
Once complete, Harbourisde would
increase the City’s annual property taxes by an estimated $2.3 million. This
money will be spent by the City in accordance with their existing policy for
property tax spending (click here for more information).
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