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”.