Editor’s note: for those looking for the brief council workshop discussion on the Lower 12th New West development, you’ll want to take a look at this Twitter thread. For the council live tweets, visit this page.

Between a council workshop and a council meeting proper, there was plenty to touch base on Monday evening at city hall—especially considering the typical summer nature of the schedule. (The next meeting isn’t until late August.) Coun. Tasha Henderson attended virtually, while Coun. Jaimie McEvoy was not in attendance.

Lower 12th New West

We published a story on Lower 12th New West last Friday, which you’ll want to take a look at before diving in further.

In a nutshell: the Lower 12th development would be a crosswalk or so away from EDGAR’s Columbia Square development. The Lower 12th development is in the extremely early stages, meaning nothing has been given the go-ahead. Rather, the city is in an exploratory phase with the proponent, to see if they can get the plans for the space just right. This is important, considering the mixed usage of the area is not typical of other city spaces in New West.

The workshop began with Coun. Daniel Fontaine recusing himself from the matter; Fontaine is a Quayside resident.

The presentation from the proponent also included a cameo from former MLA Peter Fassbender, who has been working with the developers to get the ball rolling on the current plans.

During the workshop, much of council said they did appreciate, overall, what they were seeing. One of the biggest concerns were about space: Coun. Nadine Nakagawa wanted to know what the potential was for a fire hall, adding that council has been talking about this need “casually,” while Couns. Tasha Henderson, Ruby Campbell, and Mayor Patrick Johnstone agreed.

Other requests put forward by councillors included ensuring spaces for daycare, areas for creative options that would serve the artists in New West, as well as options to push a greenway through the area. A lack of green space and the need for an improved tree canopy also came up.

Council voted to move ahead with the next steps, which include working with the proponent to develop a plan while also taking part in workshops to help shape the pitched vision for the space.

Some council meeting highlights

The city’s heat plans

City staff wanted the go-ahead from council to endorse their working on both the BC Hydro plan and the city’s plans to ensure people—especially vulnerable populations—are able to stay cool in the heat.

The city’s Rod Carle, the general manager of engineering, said this would include a request of $268,000 to come from the city’s climate action levy.

Coun. Campbell brought up about the importance of making sure pets are accounted for when it comes to cooling spaces, while also keeping focus on long-term initiatives like electric vehicle charging infrastructure and other transportation options that would offset carbon emissions.

Coun. Fontaine wanted to know if there would be some kind of funding subsidy for those who would be getting an air conditioner, because actually using conditioning could result in residents incurring another cost. Additionally, Fontaine asked about how folks who didn’t have a social worker or case worker would be able to connect with those handing out the air conditioners. Emergency management coordinator Cory Hansen added while there was overlap between Fraser Health and the Senior Services Society—which is typically in connection with some of these vulnerable populations—the city would be willing to speak to those folks to see if they qualify.

It’s also worth noting that there was a notice of motion by Couns. Henderson and Nakagawa that touches on air conditioners and exploring whether there could be a bylaw that would require one room in a resident’s rental unit to not go above 26 degrees.

Courthouse area poised to be noisy…for a while

We wrote about this a few weeks ago, but this was meant to ask for an 18-month development variance to make noise for longer. The concern is that the work at the New West Law Courts can’t be done while court is in session. The expectation is that the work would be done until midnight, but the person leading the project is promising to make less noise at night—focusing more on clean-up.

Mayor Johnstone opened by saying he couldn’t get behind allowing about 18 months of noise disturbing nearby residents.

After a suggestion by Coun. Fontaine, and support from Mayor Johnstone, mayor and council opted to allow for the variance to go to next steps. The noisier work is set to start in September, and the variance will last until January—at that time, an assessment will be done to see if the contractor is on the right track.

School spaces in New West

This report includes projections of how many students are set to be in New Westminster based on ten years of growth. The numbers are found in the 2023-2024 Eligible School Sites Proposal (ESSP).

The ESSP by the school district anticipating more than 16,000 new dwellings in the next decade; the numbers are based on application for spaces like these being considered in the city, though the city has said those numbers could be slightly inflated.

“The growth projected by the school district represents more growth than is anticipated in the city’s [OCP] which projects an increase of approximately 6,000 dwelling units over the next ten years, and 11,500 more dwelling units by 2041,” staff explains.

Nonetheless, the expectations by school district staff include a focus on budgeting for projects in Queensborough, looking at creative ways to provide green space for the district, and to deliver some adjacent amenities like daycare on school district spaces.

The report was accepted by council with no one voting against.

New West Pride

Mark your calendars! There are a lot of amazing New West Pride-related events happening over the summer, including:

• A Queer Art Gallery, through a collaborative effort, will be launched during Pride Week

• Pride week events go from Thursday, Aug. 10 to Sunday, Aug. 20

• The Street Festival is happening the afternoon of Saturday, Aug. 19

Be sure to keep up with all things New West Pride via their website. You can also find them on Instagram and Twitter.

Guru Nanak’s Free Kitchen

Holly Mitten of Guru Nanak’s Free Kitchen gave a presentation about how much growth the not-for-profit has seen. Today, they serve up to 1,000 hot meals and drinks in the Downtown East Side. There are also more than 400 volunteers working to feed everyone with vegetarian food. The food is typically prepared in New Westminster. They also provide shelters to Indigenous communities, shelters, and food banks.

You may remember the helping hand they lent during last year’s snowstorm, when people were stuck trying to get from A to B.

The organization will be holding a bike-a-thon and walk-a-thon on September 10, to help raise funds for a new space where they will be preparing food to hand out. Those who register by the end of July have a chance to win a bike. Be sure to sign up for the fundraising event!

Coun. Campbell said she would be coming with a team, while Coun. Nakagawa suggested challenging at least one other municipality. Mayor Johnstone noted they would be issuing a challenge to Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie, and Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke.

Parks and recreation fees

A heads up that there is a plan to increase the fees as scheduled by New Westminster’s parks and recreation department. The rates are not a year-over-year increase, but rather were put together through a combination of nominal rate increases (0-5%) and a comparative rate analysis of neighbouring communities.

Here are the anticipated rate increases as follows:

• Rentals (indoor multi-purpose spaces): 9%

• Rentals (outdoor pools/arenas): 2%

• Rentals (indoor pool lanes): 24%

• Rentals (sports fields): 4%

• Registered programs: 5%

• Admissions: 12%

• Active passes: 12%

• Off-site works services tree fee: 10%

We’ll have a more thorough piece on this in the Thursday edition of The Anchor. This went ahead with no opposition from council.

Motions from members of council

There was just one on the docket, with Coun. Nakagawa putting forward a request for the city to file a statement of opposition to the Trans Mountain Pipeline project.

While Coun. Henderson noted this motion wouldn’t make or break the project, she added it was important to take all the steps the city had to be vocal about its opposition to the project.

Coun. Fontaine said that while he understands why this is being brought forward, he noted that the opposition comes 15 years too late. “This motion will pass, not pass, this motion will mean absolutely nothing,” he explained, adding that it is more of a symbolic move. Additionally, he asked Coun. Nakagawa whether any of the Indigenous populations supporting the Trans Mountain project had been consulted.

Coun. Nakagawa made note of a statement previously made by the Union of BC Indian Chiefs that stated opposition towards the project, with Coun. Campbell adding that it isn’t too late to make a statement in solidarity with the populations that would be impacted.

The statement of opposition went ahead, with Couns. Fontaine and Minhas opposing.

The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 28.

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