Harbourside progress update: Sept 8 – Oct 18

A summary of what’s happening in the Harbourside planning process.

Town Hall Meeting

On the night of September 30, Concert held a Town Hall Meeting as a way of providing further public engagement. For a complete recap of the event, click here.

Finalization of DPA guidelines
The revised Development Permit Area (DPA) guidelines for Harbourside have now been finalized and resubmitted to the City on October 9. DPA guidelines control the form and character of a development in addition to regulating the look and feel of the surrounding public realm. This document will be submitted to Council for review and consideration at Harbourside’s Public Hearing. 

  

Rezoning Application submission

While Concert’s application to the City to amend their Official Community Plan (OCP) was approved in July of 2012, an application for rezoning is required prior to submitting individual development permit applications. Following the recent Town Hall Meeting, the Harbourside team refined the rezoning application and resubmitted it to the City on October 10. The rezoning application aligns with the amended OCP and proposes significant public amenities. To learn more about the proposed amenities, click here.

  

Additional parking under construction
Having secured City approval for a “temporary use permit” to allow for the development of 50 on-site parking stalls at the northwest portion of 925 Harbourside Drive, construction is now underway with completion targeted for early 2014. While the ultimate plan for Harbourside includes the permanent addition of approximately 50 on-site street parking stalls on a new internal street network, these temporary stalls will alleviate demand through pre-development and construction.

Stakeholder meetings

In an effort to continuously engage the organizations within and adjacent to Harbourside, the team met with representatives from Bodwell High School as well as the North Shore Automall in September. These meetings served as a forum for answering questions, gathering feedback and communicating where we are in the process.

Harbourside’s Town Hall Meeting recap

A Town Hall Meeting for Harbourside was held on the evening of September 30 in order to present Concert’s revised rezoning application which integrates a number of changes since it was first submitted in December 2012. The event also served as a means of providing further public engagement prior to a formal Public Hearing.

More than fifty attendees represented various stakeholder groups and members of the public. Other attendees included the Mayor of the City of North Vancouver, five City Councillors, various other members of City staff, representatives from Concert and the consultants that have been engaged on the project.

The meeting was facilitated by CitySpaces Consulting. Retained by Concert with City approval, CitySpaces provided third-party meeting facilitation to help ensure a fair and open meeting process. Colette Parson of CitySpaces acted as the evening’s facilitator, while Sebastian Lippa (also from CitySpaces) recorded the questions and comments from the Q&A portion of the evening.

The first hour of the Town Hall Meeting served as an Open House where attendees could review comprehensive display boards which spoke to important aspects of the proposed development. In addition, they could informally speak with members of the project team about various aspects of the proposed development. The project team on hand included Concert’s President & Chief Operating Officer, Brian McCauley, key members of Concert’s development team and various consultants retained by Concert. Following the Open House, there was a formal presentation and an open forum for audience questions.

Based on CitySpace’s analysis of comment cards collected at the event, response to Concert’s proposal was overwhelmingly positive. In a direct question that asked respondents if they support Concert’s rezoning of Harbourside, approximately three quarters indicated they were in support. Feedback also showed a high level of support for the community benefits being proposed across all four areas of focus including enhanced access and parking, creating communities, environmental benefits and adding economic value. To learn more about proposed community benefits see “Community Amenity Contributions at Harbourside”.

Of the concerns raised, the majority were focused on transportation. The issues of parking, access and transit service were recurring hot topics. Fortunately, these are all aspects which have been key areas of focus for the Harbourside team. In conjunction with transportation consultants, Bunt & Associates, many strategies to address parking demands as well as traffic flow have been devised for Harbourside. To learn more please see “Addressing parking at Harbourside” and “Traffic concerns at Harbourside”. Regarding transit, Concert has fully recognized that good public transit service is integral to the success of this community. Concert has been working with TransLink and the City to explore options to improve service. While a firm plan has yet to be finalized, Concert is committed to finding solutions and funding transportation options.

With the feedback received from the Town Hall Meeting, the Harbourside team has since refined the rezoning application and submitted it to the City. For more information on the upcoming project milestones, please see “Harbourside Waterfront’s Next Steps”.