Harbourside receives favourable Council vote

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. 

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

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. 

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

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.  

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. 

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). 

Public Hearings Explained

With a Public Hearing date now set for April 1, we offer the following information regarding Public Hearings and what to expect from this process.  


What exactly is a Public Hearing? 

Public Hearings provide an opportunity for Council to hear from those who believe their interest in a given property may be affected by proposed changes to either a Zoning Bylaw or the Official Community Plan. In Harbourside’s case, the Public Hearing is being held in order to review Concert’s rezoning application. 


What will happen at Harbourside’s Public Hearing?

Before the Public Hearing begins, sign-up sheets are placed outside of the Council Chambers 90 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. Stakeholders who wish to speak during the Public Hearing have the opportunity to sign-up any time up until the hearing begins. There will be two sign-up sheets, one for speakers in support, and another for speakers in opposition.

The Public Hearing will begin with an introduction by the City Clerk. Next, there will be a comprehensive review of the project which will be given by City Staff. Following the project review, representatives from Concert will have the opportunity to make a 10 minute presentation on the development. Next, those who have signed up will have the opportunity to speak. Speakers will be called up in an alternating fashion between the two sign-up sheets. Once everyone has been heard, Council will then ask questions of City Staff and Concert’s representatives. After the Public Hearing is concluded, Council will make a decision on Concert’s rezoning application. 


Public Hearing
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
6:00 pm in Council Chambers
City of North Vancouver’s City Hall
Click here for map

Summary of the Process to Date

Concert’s rezoning application for Harbourside has now been referred to a Public Hearing on April 1, an important milestone which will culminate in Council making a ruling on Concert’s application. In this blog post we recap the extensive City and public consultation process which has occurred to date. 

Just over four years ago in December 2009, Concert fist applied to the City of North Vancouver to amend the Official Community Plan (OCP) to permit a more diverse, animated and active Harbourside. Specifically, the application proposed to retain the land’s current commercial capacity and add residential to the land use mix. In response to Concert’s OCP amendment application, the City initiated the Harbourside Waterfront Policy Statement Process – an extensive land use study involving the City, Concert and the community to determine the appropriate land uses, densities and building heights. As part of this study, the adjacent City lands including Kings Mill Walk were also reviewed. The Policy Statement was submitted to City Council in February 2011.

Concert’s OCP amendment application was subsequently revised to align with the recommendations of the community consultation. In addition, several stakeholder meetings and community consultation events were held as part of the OCP amendment process. With the support of the community and City staff, Concert’s OCP amendment application was approved by City Council in July 2012.

In November 2012, Concert initiated the rezoning application process. In addition to the application, two key documents were created in collaboration with City staff to dictate how the site would ultimately be developed – the zoning bylaw and the development permit area guidelines. While not a requirement of rezoning, Concert then organized a Town Hall Meeting in October 2013 as a way of providing further public engagement. At the Town Hall, Concert presented a revised application for Harbourside which included a number of changes since it was first submitted.

With the feedback received from the Town Hall Meeting, our rezoning application was further refined before going back to Council. The application, along with a comprehensive development zoning bylaw and development permit area guidelines, was then submitted to Council for what is known as “first reading”. The development zoning bylaw regulates density, height, setbacks, site coverage and other qualitative restrictions while the development permit area guidelines document controls the form and character of the development and the public realm. Because Council was satisfied with our revised application, the rezoning application was subsequently referred to a Public Hearing on April 1. Public Hearings provide an opportunity for Council to hear from those who believe their interest in a given property may be affected by proposed changes. Following the Public Hearing, Council will make a decision on our application.

As a result of the extensive process that has occurred, the rezoning application that will be presented at the Public Hearing is truly a reflection of the feedback we have received over the years from both the community and the City. As a result, we are confident that our plan will result in a win-win scenario for all stakeholders in Harbourside’s redevelopment.