Lila Wood has lived in a suite at 31 Elliot St. for more than two decades, and she has some great memories.
But she's concerned that her future will not be so memorable with the future opening of the new Northbank highrise at 125 Columbia St.
She's enjoyed a river view for many years, and she said that's going to be lost with Northbank's arrival.
Even more galling to Wood is the latest advertisement for the new development, which promises prospective buyers "water views, for all, forever."
"When we raised the issue about the loss of our views," said Wood, "we were told we don't own the view. Now, it appears someone does own the view."
Ballenas Project Management received the city's approval last year to build the 21storey building after applying for a rezoning and a special development permit to build a mixed-use commercial and multiple-family residential building that would include 101 apartment units, eight townhouse units and 740 square feet of commercial space.
In the Northbank advertisement Wood refers to, Ballenas touts the complex as "a collection of 109 stunning hi-rise view homes in New Westminster, featuring larger-than-average and well-thought-out floorplans. - Every Northbank home offers views up or down the Fraser River."
Peter Newell, president of Ballenas Project Management, said he's not surprised that residents at 31 Elliot St. are continuing to express frustration.
"They have expressed many times they are not happy," said Newell. "We would like to make the relationship better. - We want to try to be as good a neighbour as we possibly can."
Newell said Ballenas wasn't trying to be insensitive to its
neighbours' concerns about loss of view.
Instead, the ad was meant to extol the virtues of a facility where all the units on each floor had a water view.
Newell explained that their architects oriented the building so that of the six units on each floor, two would have views south, across the river to Surrey, two would have views west toward Richmond and two would have views east toward Coquitlam and the Fraser Valley.
"Our advertising was intended to point out the feature of our site to prospective buyers," said Newell.
Newell reiterated that Ballenas went through a rigorous zoning process for 125 Columbia St. and received all of the necessary approvals for the project that is scheduled to open in the autumn of 2013.
Mayor Wayne Wright said he sympathized with Wood even though he hasn't seen the advertisement in question.
"Would I have done that (in an ad)? Probably not," said Wright. "You never want to create a confrontation, and at the end of the day, the people living there and the people building there have to work together."
Wright said the benefits of the Northbank development are numerous.
"That was an empty disgraceful lot," said Wright. "It takes a special builder to be able to build there and commit to making it a great development. It wasn't an easy spot. - At the end of the day, we're also increasing the tax base and bringing more people to the city."
Wood said she also has two other major concerns: access and parking.
"Access to the area is already very limited," said Wood. "There is no road access to 125 Columbia except for a short and narrow block of Clarkson Street. - The greenway in front of the property prohibits any access from Columbia Street."
As for parking, according to Wood, there isn't enough for the current residents in the area, so adding another 109 units means even more pressure on those spots
Senior planner Barry Waitt with the City of New Westminster devoted many hours to working on the project and said Ballenas hired a consultant to do a parking study.
According to a staff report authored by Waitt, the zoning bylaw required 170 parking spots, but Ballenas proposed 131 spots, with one of the reasons for having fewer spots being that the building is located only two blocks from a SkyTrain station.
Newell said Ballenas is providing 22 visitor parking spots - part of the 131 approved parking spots - to an area that previously had none.
In addition, Newell pointed out that with the development only two blocks away from a SkyTrain station and located on the Central Valley Greenway bicycle route, car parking spots may not be as big an issue as people look for other transportation options.
As for access, Waitt said the engineering department was aware of the traffic concerns of the residents of 31 Elliot St.
Waitt said the project went through a fair and complex public hearing process and the concerns from residents of 31 Elliot St. were factored in and noted in his report.
Wood said she hopes the developer will scale back the project and even wonders if the approval was affected in any way by the fact Ballenas donated $3,000 to Wright's re-election campaign.
Wright was quick with a response: "That's a very fair question. Absolutely not. There is no connection between any donations given to me and development in the city. - Everything goes through staff, and the recommendations come from staff.
"I do want to be known as the building mayor, the mayor who built for the future of New Westminster."
alau@royalcityrecord.com
