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New West businessman fed up with Front Street

Completion of the Front Street mews can’t come fast enough for Harm Woldring. Woldring, owner of The Wine Factory, said road closures to construct the mews have “been a nightmare” as customers have had no vehicle access to his business.
Harm Woldring
Not impressed: Removal of a portion of the Front Street parkade and construction of the new Front Street mews has been "a nightmare" for local businessman Harm Wolding, who told the Record in 2017 that his business has lost thousands of dollars as customers have trouble accessing The Wine Factory. Woldring has announced he will be running for mayor in the Oct. 20 municipal election.

Completion of the Front Street mews can’t come fast enough for Harm Woldring.

Woldring, owner of The Wine Factory, said road closures to construct the mews have “been a nightmare” as customers have had no vehicle access to his business.

“The revenue alone in the last year, $70,000,” he said of the financial losses resulting from the project. “And that’s just the last year. Go backwards for four more years and it’s $30,000 to $40,000 to $50,000 a year every year for five years. The city is: ‘It’s not our problem.’”

According to Woldring, the city allowed the Salient Group to use Frontage Road for staging while it built its Trapp + Holbrook tower.While the city charged the Salient Group for lost revenue from the parking metres that were out of service as a result of that road closure, he said Front Street businesses don’t get any compensation for lost revenues due to the closure of Frontage Road.

“The impact on the businesses has been ridiculous,” he said.

Woldring said he took the city to small claims court because of damage done to his storefront. While a judge was supportive of his claim, he said the city found a way to avoid paying for the repairs caused by crews working on Front Street.

“Now it is so damaged that I have to chain my door shut because it doesn’t lock properly any more. So the landlord is now involved, and now because the landlord is involved, now we are going to pay attention,” he said. “In other words, in the City of New Westminster, if you are a small business owner you don’t count. They don’t care.”

Roger Emanuels, the city’s manager of construction and design, said the city has a standard process for handling property damage claims through the city’s and the contractor’s insurer. As the owner has chosen to refer this matter to court, he said the city cannot discuss details in public.

Emanuels said the city’s project manager has been in contact with Woldring during construction and has been addressing issues he’s raised such as traffic, access and deliveries. He confirmed the Salient Group had to pay the city the standard street-use fees for occupying streets for construction, as set out in the city’s street and traffic bylaw.

Woldring said he spoke to lawyers who handled a class-action lawsuit for businesses affected by the Canada Line construction on Cambie Street in Vancouver.

“They said, ‘You have a case; there’s no question, but there’s not enough of you; you’re too small; we can’t take it on,’” he said. “I talked to several other lawyers and they said it’s a $30,000 retainer just to look at the case. By the time you take it to court, it’s going to be $60,000 to $70,000, and you are not claiming that much.”

Construction of the Front Street mews is cruising toward the finish line, but Woldring wonders if it’s going to be what was promised. He said there have been dozens of change orders made since the project began and a sound barrier is no longer being built between the mews and the truck route.

Kendra Johnston, executive director of the Downtown New Westminster Business Improvement Association, said the Front Street construction project hasn’t been easy on area businesses.

“In general, it’s been very challenging,” she said. “There certainly has been delays. It’s been a long, difficult project, as you can imagine. … We are really excited to see the final product. There is finally a light at the end of the tunnel. We are really excited to be able to celebrate Front Street with our Fridays on Front. We are really looking forward to that.”

The city removed the western portion of the Front Street parkade and constructed a mews near Begbie Street as a way of better connecting the downtown to the waterfront.

“I am still getting used to the new Front Street and not having the parkade there,” Johnston said. “Sometimes it’s still a bit of a surprise to see how bright it is, to see landscaping go in. We are starting to get a glimpse of what it could be and what it will be. It definitely feels more connected to the waterfront in my mind.”

What's the scoop?

The Record checked in with Roger Emanuels, the city’s manager of design and construction, to get the latest on the Front Street mews project. Here are his responses to a number of questions about the project.

Q: Will it be completed in its entirety or will some aspects be done at a later date?
A: The mews will be substantially complete by July 7 and will be fully functional. Some elements such as the catenary lighting (strings of lights suspended above a space) will follow as the required poles have long delivery times, and we do not want to wait for them and delay completion of the project.

Q: What’s left to be done at this time?
A: Installation of catenary lighting, removal of old Telus poles and completion of final finishes and installation of street furniture.

Q: Is the concrete barrier getting some kind of artistic treatment? (A cement barrier separates the mews from the truck route on Front Street.)
A: Yes, a decorative finish is proposed for the face of the barrier along the mews. We are hoping to have this completed for the opening.

Q: Is a sound barrier still part of the project?
A: It was determined that a sound wall would have been very expensive and have limited benefit. Removal of the parkade has reduced noise from Begbie to Sixth by eliminating the tunnel effect.

Q: How much was budgeted for the Front Street mews? Is it on budget?
A: The budget for the mews is $1.75 million. It was increased to accommodate scope changes such as the addition of catenary lighting from McKenzie to Sixth Street.

Q: Harm Woldring, owner of the Wine Factory, said there were dozens of “change orders” to the project from the time it started until the end of October 2016. Is this true? If so, what types of things were changed and how did this impact the project’s budget? Why all the changes?
A: Change orders are a standard part of any construction project. Some have increased cost and some can reduce costs. The city carries contingency amounts to deal with changes. As New Westminster is an old city, it is not uncommon to run into changes in the field from unknown conditions.

Q: Was a concrete barrier installed on Front Street, only to be removed at a later date? Why? How has this impacted the budget?
A: The contractor provided the wrong barriers and was required to replace them at their cost.

Q: Is it true that the electrical services weren’t going to be buried underground, but that later changed because a staircase built as part of the project was too close to electrical lines?
A:  Originally, it was anticipated that the wooden poles would remain along Front Street. As the project progressed, it became evident that the poles could be removed as only a few buildings would need to rework their electrical service. As such, changes were made to both the electrical and Telus so that the poles could be removed providing a cleaner streetscape.