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Degelder press conference |
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Written by Casey Cook
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Tuesday, 26 July 2005 |
On Wed. July 13, 2005 a notice went out from New Westminster city hall,
announcing a press conference to be held at the Westminster Club on
Mon., July 18th.
The notice stated:
YOU ARE INVITED:
on behalf of the Degelder Group and Charter Pacific Developments , we
cordially invite you to attend a formal announcement and preview of New
Westminster’s newest and biggest residential/commercial
developments.
The notice stated that Michael Degelder, President,
Degelder group, and Philip Louis, President of Charter Pacific
Developments, would be introduced. For those of you who are unfamiliar
with these names, they are the principals in the Degelder-led
development at the Eighth Street Skytrain station.
Richard Bernstein, associate of Stantec Architecture, was to give
a brief presentation and a look inside this exciting new project. He
would be followed by New Westminster’s Mayor, Wayne Wright, who would
speak to his “bold new vision” for New Westminster’s waterfront, which
will evolve over the next decade.
I did have another commitment for the morning, so I debated whether to
go or not. I did go, and it was worthwhile, because I did learn several
things, some of which I will share a little later.
The first speaker, Michael Degelder, has been working hard on this site
for several years. Initially, he led the proposal to put both of New
Westminster’s casinos on that site, as anchor tenants in a very
substantial development. That proposal was turned down by the Province
because they did not want to have more than 300 slot machines and 20
tables at one location. How times have changed! Michael has
persevered and is now bringing to market his latest proposal. I wish
him well.
The next speaker was Richard Bernstein, who I learned has been
associated with the project for several years. Richard also was the
lead consultant on a land use study called the Station Area Plan
which was prepared for the city in 2004 and which incorporates the
Degelder Project.
The next speaker was the Mayor. I had wondered that morning what his
“bold new vision” would look like. The Mayor laid out some of the
history of the area and then explained his vision. In essence, the
audience was treated to a rehash of the Station Area Plan. From my
vantage point there was nothing new or “visionary” in his speech or any
departure from the plan adopted by Council in 2004. The boardwalk, the
plinth, the encapsulation of the railway and Front St., all presented
again as a “bold new vision”.
What was different however, was the apparent inability of the Mayor to
clearly present and discuss the underlying and supporting principles
for these initiatives.
Some irony in this is that I made the Notice of Motion in 2000 to do a
land use study and an Official Community Plan update for the Skytrain
Station areas. It was clear at that time that our land use practices
were not congruent with and supportive of the GVRD’s Livable Region
Strategic Plan.
As I said earlier, I did learn some things from the Mayor’s speech. I learned that:
• we are negotiating with senior levels of government for funding of this new plan
• we are going to fill 600 suites with “good people” so that we can get rid of 20 “bad people”at the sky-train station
• Tim Whitehead (the Director of Planning) is the “number two man” in
the city (I take it that this would be news to other department heads)
• despite the GVRD’s and the GVTA’s objections to the twinning of the
Port Mann Bridge, New Westminster is preparing to accommodate the added
traffic from the new bridge
• that New Westminster “needs” 24,000 more people in the next decade
• that this is all being done to enhance people’s “medical goodness”
In conclusion, I guess that I should be thankful for press conferences
and newspapers, so that I as a Councillor can be aware of the decisions
that this Council has made or is about to make!!!
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Shared concerns re: Degelder Project
Written by Neil Powell on 2005-07-26 07:55:25
The mayor's comments re: the Degelder project show how disconnected he is to the issues and concerns of this wonderful city's present residents.
Over the last 3 years I have heard many make reference to the population "goal" of 80,000. I have reminded them that this is actually a projection and should not be a goal. What some "leaders" of our city have done is taken a projection and turned it into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
There are many residents and businesses of eastern New Westminster who are very concerned about the provincial government's Gateway project, specifically the twinning of the Port Mann bridge. The McBride Sapperton Residents' Association first wrote a letter to city council in 2003 stating their concern regarding this project. The Mayor's apparent willingness to accomodate this project (despite publicly stating his opposition) greatly concerns me. How will those of us who presently live in this City have our neighbourhood's impacted by the present leadership's willingness to race towards a population of 80,000 and accommodate the Gateway Project. We cannot build our way out of our "problems".
The businesses in the Braid Industrial area have been waiting for years to have their traffic issues properly dealt with.
Let's deal with our present traffic issues and the way they are impacting our present neighbourhoods and businesses before we help more traffic race through our city to jobs and homes in other communities.
- Neil Powell |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 29 August 2005 )
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