The City of New Westminster needs to consult with residents when embarking on initiatives or addressing concerns in neighbourhoods.
That was a reoccurring theme at the March 24 city council meeting, where delegates spoke to council about a variety of issues, including crime and nuisance behaviours in the downtown, a rain garden in the West End, naturalization of boulevards in the Queen’s Park neighbourhood, and roadwork in Sapperton.
Monday night’s council meeting also included a delegation speaking in favour of a new tenant relocation policy for the city. Stay tuned for a separate story on that issue in the Record.
Here's a look at some of the issues raised by delegates at Monday’s council meeting.
Downtown livability
Brandi Rogocky, who lives in one of the new highrises near Sixth Street, said she loves the downtown area, the charm of the heritage buildings, the diversity of people, and the neighbourhood feel — but is concerned about the visible increase in people who are experiencing homelessness and addiction. She said that has impacted the overall vibe of downtown New West and has raised safety concerns among residents.
“The safety concerns raised are related to the conduct of the people that inhabit or linger in outdoor spaces,” she told council. “Specifically, unpredictable and often aggressive behaviour, open drug use with paraphernalia and drug wrappers often discarded on the streets or in door wells, and scattered piles of refuse in general, that oftentimes contain food waste or even human waste.”
Rogocky said she and her partner frequently encounter issues that pose a significant danger to their dog, such as broke glass pipes and drug wrappers. She said her building often has groups of up to 10 people taking shelter at the entrance to its parkade, which poses issues for building residents and safety issues for those who are congregating in the area.
Beyond safety concerns, Rogocky said residents’ quiet enjoyment of their homes is impacted by noise such as screaming, violent arguments, and music blaring, as well as other disturbances throughout the night and into the early hours of the morning. She questioned if the city has a plan to mitigate the impact on the downtown area or wondered if downtown residents are “going to continue to be left to defend themselves.”
Council members thanked Rogocky for sharing her experience. Staff provided a quick overview of the city’s crises response pilot project and pledged to connect Rogocky to resources offered through that initiative that could help the residents in her building deal with some of the challenges they are experiencing.
“Thank you for the information,” Rogocky told council. “I absolutely am going to follow up and get involved in that pilot and also come and speak with the police board.”
Rain gardens and curb bulges
Two West End residents — Mike Timoffee and Karen Murray — voiced concerns about a project taking place at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 16th Street, where a curb extension and rain garden are being created.
Timoffee said residents recently woke up to find contractors digging up the area in front of their homes. He said the city’s project would have eliminated all of the parking in front of his home and half of the parking in front of Murray’s home — and they have no ability to park at the back of their residences.
“Also, a bigger concern is that we had no information, no communication from anybody whatsoever on this project,” he said. “To find out about this was kind of shocking.”
Timoffee expressed concern about the loss of parking (the city came back with a revised plan that provided some parking, but not as much as had existed before), the effectiveness of the rain garden at the proposed location, maintenance of the rain garden, and safety issues for cyclists and pedestrians due to the location of the curb bulge and rain garden.
Murray echoed concerns about safety, saying she has seen many near misses of cyclists being hit while travelling on the Crosstown Greenways because of the visibility at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 16th Street.
“I’m not opposed to rain gardens. … It's where you're putting them,” she said. “I'm concerned more about safety with all the stuff going on, specifically with the cyclists and the corners and the lack of room to react to a situation.”
Lisa Leblanc, the city’s director of engineering, said staff are preparing communications, including a map, which will be sent out to West End property owners about the plans for the neighbourhood. While the city put the project on hold in order to revisit an alternate design, to address the need for on-street parking, she said the project will proceed.
“It was selected because of its location within the drainage catchment. It was selected because of its location along the greenway and a variety of other reasons,” she said. “So, the location itself is fixed, and it's part of the program that was endorsed by council through the West End sewer separation and green infrastructure program. However, we have modified the design in response to what we've heard.”
Fifth Street naturalization
Six residents addressed council about the city’s plans to rewild a section of the Fifth Street boulevard as part of the city’s biodiversity and natural areas strategy.
Four delegates expressed opposition to the rewilding initiative, which has seen the grass removed. The logs, plants and mulch that were initially placed on the median have since been removed and will be replaced with a pollinator seed mix that includes wildflowers and grasses that support pollinator foraging.
Two residents spoke in favour of the naturalization effort, saying it would improve biodiversity, create a healthier urban environment, and help the city mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Some of the speakers told the council it needs to improve its consultation and communication with residents about these types of projects.
“Please consult with us,” said Queen’s Park resident Gail Ancill. “Don't communicate to us. It seems so paternalistic to just say, ‘this is what we're going to do.’”
Road concerns
Pat Muise, who had signed up to speak at the March 10 meeting but missed his chance after showing up to speak at 7 p.m., instead of the new delegation time of 6 p.m., got his opportunity to share concerns about traffic changes in Sapperton. At the March 24 meeting, he expressed concern about “choke points” being created by road projects in the city, including the narrowing of East Columbia Street in front of Royal Columbian Hospital.
“It's insane that you cut that street down to two lanes,” he said. “You're making these choke points all over the city, and they're costing the taxpayers money.”
Muise told council the traffic changes in front of the hospital have caused delays to ambulances trying to get to the emergency department. The Record has reached out to Fraser Health and BC Emergency Health Services; stay tuned for a separate story on that issue.
Delegation procedures
Since January 2025, delegations and presentations have been the first item on the agendas at New Westminster city council meetings. They now take place at 6 p.m., not 7 p.m.
The City of New Westminster’s website provides details about the process for appearing as a delegation before city council.
In November 2024, council received a staff report outlining a number of items relating to its meetings, including a new time for delegations and presentations. Council unanimously supported changing the timing of presentations and delegations from 7 to 6 p.m., starting in the new year.
The 6 p.m. start time for delegations took effect at council’s Jan. 13 meeting.
Speakers, who complete a “request to speak" form online, are able to speak for up to five minutes. The city’s council procedures bylaw allows up to 10 members of the public who have signed up ahead of time to delegate at regular council meetings (unless a public hearing is happening that evening).
