We start with a public hearing

The Heritage Revitalization Agreement includes three lots in the area of 802 and 806 Eighth St., and 809 Eighth Ave. The proposal includes restoring the Thomas and Stella Sincock house, which is located at 806 Eighth St.

Once completed, those initially moving into the suites would receive some time credit for Evo car share, as well as some credit towards using TransLink’s system via Compass Card. It’s also worth noting that three of the total 17 suites would not have parking spaces, and that these units were also accessibility suites.

While most of the speakers liked the concept of the build, there were at least three residents who were worried about the parking situation. Darrin Grund and Lisa Macgregor spoke about their concerns around the lack of parking—parking will not be offered for the three studio suites. Another resident, Michael Atherley, said that he had a two-fold concern about parking: where construction workers would be parking as the project is worked on, and what would happen with traffic as more people moved into the community.

Coun. Daniel Fontaine asked how long it would take to build, how many adults would potentially live in this building (noting he wanted to know how many 16+ adults could end up being in this building as a ballpark way to figure out how many cars would be tied to the site), and what hallmarks made it a heritage home if the house was pulled out of a catalog.

Coun. Nadine Nakagawa noted that when the city looks at density in the community, there is a propensity for people to worry about parking, but that New Westminster needs to take action based on the climate change crisis.

This made it to the next stage, which means it will go to three readings at a future meeting.

The B word

B in this case is for budget, and if you’ve been following our stories and/or council matters over the last couple of months it’s, of course, been a hot topic.

Director of finance Harji Varn noted that the 2023 capital budget would see $173.2 million—about a quarter of that is for the new aquatic centre, təməsew̓txʷ. Much of the funding for the capital plan will come from reserves, at 65%. Additionally, the property tax increase for the year would be 6.4%.

For Coun. Ruby Campbell, the overall budget felt in line with what she says she’s been hearing from local residents and businesses.

“This is something that…goes back to investing in people, and I think our people deserve the very best. How we pay for that is the question, but I think you and your team have laid that out for us,” Campbell said to Varn. “I wish we could say, ‘We don’t need this, we don’t need that’ … I don’t think I have any more questions [about the budget] but how do we celebrate, how do residents know we’re investing?”

Coun. Tasha Henderson asked for some ballpark numbers regarding what an increase could look like for property owners.

With the recommendation on the floor, Fontaine presented another budget amendment.

‘This could have been an email to council prior to this…’

Nakagawa expressed her disappointment with the amendment, wondering why these suggestions had only been brought up now as opposed to the months leading up to this evening.

“We can’t do this in a slap-dash manner,” explained Nakagawa. “This could have been an email to council prior to this.”

Campbell said that she was baffled by Fontaine’s motion, and Fontaine called a point of order as she was speaking. Fontaine's microphone was off, so it was not clear exactly what the issue was. However, Campbell offered an apology.

Mayor Patrick Johnstone called the 11th hour motion disappointing, adding that it would be irresponsible to toss out a number of projects that had been discussed collaboratively by council.

It was defeated 5-2, with Johnstone and Couns. Henderson, Campbell, Nakagawa, and McEvoy voting against it.

Eventually, the aforementioned five voted to support staff’s initial recommendation.

Next steps according to the staff report include “posting [the budget] on the city website and newspaper.”

What else happened at council?

Three items were pulled from the consent agenda, including a noise bylaw exemption request tied to the Metro Vancouver Annacis Water Supply tunnel. Johnstone wanted to know if there would be appropriate communications with respect to whom people could contact if the noise was intolerable. Metro Vancouver representatives noted that they would be circulating relevant information to those nearby.

The exemption involves 1031 Quebec St. Johnstone was satisfied with the answer, and this went ahead without opposition.

Talk of another hotel opening in New Westminster

A few lines down in the item pertaining to 8th and Carnarvon, there’s an ask for the development of a new hotel. This would be in tandem with a 44-storey building that includes 469 stratified market condo units. The plan was initially put on the city’s radar in October 2018.

This went ahead, which means that city staff will now be working with the applicant on the next steps to come up with a development plan.

Council wrapped things up with two additional motions, both of which came from Fontaine: one about the number of dead and/or dying trees in the city, with a particular focus on stumps that have been left on city property. This went ahead, but with a few amendments.

Council also supported writing a letter to various government ministers, supporting the Single Mothers’ Alliance Transit for Teens campaign. Nakagawa and Johnstone pointed out that this campaign was similar to the work done by council in 2018 for the “All on Board” campaign. This went ahead with a logistical amendment to make sure that the letter was written to everyone except the Mayors’ Council, as Johnstone noted it was a provincial issue and that the council previously said it didn’t fall within its purview.

The next city council meeting is slated for Monday, April 3.