Land-use decisions are key in
the current NV City campaign

3y Catherine Barr
Contributing Writer

NORTH Vancouver City is only about five square
miles in size, so when it comes to development,
the municipality has to take a good look inside.

Development and re-development are prevalent issues wher-
ever you look in municipal election campaign °99. But unlike its
two neighbouring municipalities, North Vancouver City has
amuch tess land to work with.

Certain packets of the city, such as the Westview interchange
and the church expansion at 23rd Street and St. Georges Avenue
have warranted some much-
needed attention of late.

Other development. issucs
have been the topic of large,
elaborate and lengthy plan-
ning sessions.

And don’t forget the basics
like playing fields, recreation
facilities, parking and trans-
portation — cach one a neces-
sary element that has to be
considered by any city that
shows signs of growth.

But North Vancouver City
is used to reinventing itself. Its
densely populated and densely
built Lower Lonsdale area is
well on the road to revitaliza-
tion. The municipal plaza has
been redesigned and rebuilt,
as has the police station the
city shares with North
Vancouver District. And now,
as the city looks to the new
millennium, its success will be
judged in how it handles a
long list of projects waiting in
the wings.

North Vancouver City’s
demographic | makeup _ is
unusual. Out of a population
of approximately 42,000 resi-
dents, some 23,000 live in the
highly concentrated Central
and Lower Lonsdale arcas. In
add'tion, more than half of the
city’s residents are renters, not
homeowners.

There are about 7,500
senior citizens, 8,000 children
under 19, and 3,200 single-
parent households. Average
family income, according to a
1996 census, is about $56,000

r ycar, Low income house-
folds make up about 24.6% of
the rotal city population.
Annual population growth
hovers around 1.5%. Experts
_ predict the city’s population

will grow to approximately
54,000 by che year 2021.

In 1998, city construciion

rojects totalled approximate-

A $44 million, bringing the five-year total value of city construc-
tion to nearly $265 raillion. During this period, residential and
mixed-use building activity accounted tor 84% of the construc-
ton total.

Continuing this trend in new city development will be the
Versatile Shipyards project.

The 12-acre site of the long-vacane shipyard runs along the
North Vancouver waterfront between Lonsdale and St. Georges
avenues. It’s currently che subject of an application for rezoning
and Official Community Plan amendment. The area under con-
sideration for development includes the tormer shipyard as well
gs adjacent properties located along the shoreline, across
Esplanade between Lonsdaie and St. Georges, and a small prop-
erty on the acrtheast corner of the Esplanade and St. Georges
intersection.

A development plan presented by Coriolis Consulting, Corp.
and Hotson Bakker Architects cails for 838,000 sq. ft. (77,850
sq m) residential, 276,000 sq. it. (25,640 sq m) commercial and
38,060 sq. ft. (3,530 sq m) of amenity floor space.

Plans also call for a nine-storey horel at the southeast corner
of East Esplanade and Lonsdale Avenue, an 18-storey residential
highrise and a 20-storey highrise on the north side of East
Esplanade, across from the shipyard site.

As part of the plan, Esplanade would be re-routed several

- metres to the south between Lonsdale and St. Georges.

The developers hope to retain several of the original shipyard
structures and dedicate a museum and park land to the city to
mark the heritage value of the site. It could become a monument

12,430
11,105
4,435
2,875
865
2,695
2,500
2,030
2,010

530

Central Lonsdale
Grand Boulevard
Moodyville
Cedar Village
Mahon
Marine-Hamiltun

; Westview
Tempe

Mission Indian
Reserve #1

Other Taxes Breakdown:

TransLink

Where the city gets ls tunds

Property taxes

Reserves

Licenses Permits and Fines
Grants-in-lieu

Other Revenues

Interest income

School District #44
British Columbia Assessment Authority (BCAA)

Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD)
Municipal Finance Authority (MFA)

North Vancouver General Revenues 1999

_____ Election 1999

ni defi

a PervEO TELE

a

Sunday, October 24, 1999 — North Shore News - 3

nes city issues

NEWS photo Terzy Peters

NORTH Vancouver City clerk Bruce Hawkshaw stands atop the Lonsdale Quay viewing platform in front of a
skyline that will change dramatically if proposats for the development of the Versatile property go ahead.

North Vancouver City Total Municipal Taxes
The city collects a general levy (tax) as well as fees for local improvements,
refuse collection recycling, storm drainage, and a sewer parcel tax.
Total Munfpal Taxes

Total Other Taxes

$27,017,500 (52%)
$24,624,100 (48%)

$20, 887,600 (85%)
$2,219,600 (9%)
$830,600 (3%)
$685,000 (3%)
$1,300 (7%)

North Vancouver Genera! Expenses

Where the cay Spends sts tunds

$13,481,900
$8,352,900

$26,053,200
$4,670,500
$2,322,000
$2,239,000
$1,838,600
$1,555,000

Provection (Poice Ke etc)
General Government

Public Works $6,471,500
Capital and Reserves $5,399,000
Recreation, Health and Community $5,023,066

to the North Shore’s rich shipbuilding history.

The project is scheduled to go to a public hearing on Nov. 1.
The zoning package and Official Community Plan amendment
could be taken to third reading by council later this year.

Meanwhile, the Harboucside Business Development Park will
also start to change the landscape of North Vancouver City.

Developed in conjunction with Concert Properties Ltd. (for-
merly known as Greystone Properties), the main feature will be
the 10 car dealerships housed on 24 acres of waterfront land
located at the foot of Fell Avenue.

Council has given approval for a 132-foot neon sign marking
the development. The sign is capable of housing a computer con-
trolled laser and flashing xenon lights.

The main, gateway entrance, base and fascia signs and flag
poles were all approved even though some exceeded the normal
city sign limits by as much as 528%.

According to city hal! officials, the future of the Marine Drive
area will be part of an ongoing study designed to keep things
alive as one by one the car dealership re-locate to their new
waterfront property,

More recently, the North Shore Alliance Church and its con-
gregation presented their plans for developing its East 23rd
Street lands.

Church dircetors told council the group plans to expand their
existing 19,324 sq. ft. (1,795 sq. m) church into a 93,432 sq. ft.
(8,680 sq. m) facility.

The church group emphasized that its expansion plans for the
new four-level facility were driven solely by the church’s quickly

growing congregation and its popular activities programs and
not by the need to build a private school, as some neighbours
maintained.

The church’s current congregation is approximately 1,250;
it’s made up of approximately 40% North Vancouver City resi-
dents, 50% North Vancouver District residents, 5% West
Vancouver residents and 5% trom other areas,

Still, worried residents fear that the area’s character will be
ruined by the charch expansion. Parked cars, noise, views, and
depresiated property values were all discussed.

If approved, the new building will have four storeys (three
above ground), which will house a lounge, prayer chapel, meer
ing rooms, reception areas, approximately 28 offices and 16
tuulti-purpase rooms. There will also be a gymnasium, under-
ground parking and a renovated sanctuary.

Neighbours opposed to the project say the development is
too much for an area that already houses a provincial court
house, the Centennial Theatre and the Lonsdale ReeCentre.

Westview residents meanwhile have a whole different set of
complaints.

Westview’s highway interchange was built, by the provincial
government in the mid-°90s and was, at the time, said-to have
been completed on time and under budget. Bur naw, several
years later, nearby residents are less than pleased with the results.

Their main complaint: the messy boulevard arvas. Part of the
deal, according to residents, was that upon completion of the

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