Adoption of the Hume Park master plan is just one of the items on New Westminster city council’s jam-packed May 9 agenda.
The 1,317-page agenda includes items related to a variety of policies, including updates to the city’s development cost charge bylaw (which is updating fees collected from developments for the city’s transportation, water, sanitary sewer and drainage infrastructure) and a proposed work plan for review of Phase 1 of the infill housing program (which includes laneway and carriage houses, infill townhouses and rowhouses), and adoption of the Hume Park master plan.
“It’s a long-term vision for the park,” Derek Lee, a principal with PWL Partnership Landscape Architects Inc., recently told council during at a workshop. “It’s a roadmap to inform decisions about ecological assets, recreational facilities and activities. It’s a plan for improving the park to serve the community’s future needs and priorities. And it’s living document that will be revisited periodically into the years and decades to come.”
Council will also receive an update on initiatives aimed at improving the livability in the downtown neighbourhood – with a specific focus on strategies being planned to encourage “vibrancy and visitation” in the downtown heading into summer. A variety of immediate and short-term actions were endorsed by city council in October 2021, in response to concerns about cleanliness, homelessness, the opioid crisis and mental health.
Council will also receive a report outlining the results of the Period Promise pilot initiative, which found there was “low use of products and minimal vandalism to dispensers.” The initiative, which provides free menstrual products, was piloted from May 2021 to October 2022 at several facilities in the city, including community centres, the library and Westminster Pier and Quayside parks.
On the business front, East Van Amusements, which received a temporary use permit (TUP) to operate an arcade at 30 Capilano Way in an industrial building in the Braid Industrial area, is seeking a two-year extension to its TUP as part of its COVID-19 business recovery efforts.
“We are requesting a one-time extension of the TUP,” wrote applicants Kyle and Amanda Seller in a letter to the city. “It would mean a lot to us, and I believe our business has made a positive impact to the City of New Westminster and has brought many people in to the city from other areas ….”
Development plans
On the development side of things, several projects are on the agenda. These include:
* 328 Second St.: Council will consider first and second readings of heritage designation and heritage revitalization agreement bylaws that would allow the property to be subdivided into two lots. The existing 1889 heritage house would be retained, restored and legally protected and an infill house would be built on the other site.
* 1135 Salter St.: Council will consider a preliminary report about and official community plan amendment, rezoning, development variance and development permit related to the processing of a proposed townhouse development in Queensborough. The city has received an application for the construction of 45 ground-oriented townhouse units at this site.
* 122 Eighth St.: Council will consider first and second readings of a zoning amendment bylaw that related to the construction of a duplex in the Glenbrook North neighbourhood.
* 377 and 339 Keary St.: Council will consider a first and second readings of a rezoning application related to construction of a nine-unit townhouse project – in two buildings – at this Sapperton site.
* 817 St. Andrews St.: Council will consider a rezoning applications related to a proposed triplex in the Brow of the Hill neighbourhood. The three units would be stratified and built to Passive House standards.
Monday’s meeting also includes an opportunity for delegations to address council. (Folks must have registered ahead of time.)
Proclamations galore
A whole host of proclamations are also on the agenda for council’s consideration. In some cases, speakers may appear as delegations:
* Day of Action Against Asian Racism – May 10
* Moose Hide Campaign Day – May 12
* Falun Dafa Day – May 13
* International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia – May 17
* Hyack International Parade and Festival – May 28
* Public Works Week – May 15 to 21
* Child Care Month – May 2022
* Commemoration of 80 years since the Internment of Japanese Canadians – May 2022
* Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month – May 2022
* Guillain-Barre Syndrome/Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy Awareness Month – May 2022
* Jewish Heritage Month – May 2022
* Melanoma and Skin Cancer Awareness Month – May 2022
Council will meet on Monday, May 9 at 6 p.m., with members of the public able to attend electronically or in person in city hall.
