Carlos O’Bryan’s is seeking the city’s permission to operate a pub in the 1893 Canadian Pacific Railway Station.
The building, located at 800 Columbia St., is next to Hyack Square and was the longtime home of the Keg. The applicant, who is leasing the space from the buildling’s owner, plans to operate a Kelly O’Bryan’s restaurant on the ground floor and a Carlos O’Bryan’s pub upstairs.
The applicant has applied for a zoning bylaw and a special development permit to allow it to operate a liquor primary licensed premises. Council directed staff to process the rezoning, special development permit and liquor primary licence applications and report to the city’s land use and planning committee.
Shelter needs roads to be closed
The city is proposing to close the highway between Wood Street and Boyne Street in Queensborough to make way for a new animal shelter.
City council has given three readings to a street road closure bylaw to close the highway between Wood and Boyne streets to accommodate the site of the city’s new animal services facility. Residents with opinions on the road closure can appear at an opportunity to be heard at the Aug. 28 council meeting in council chamber at 6 p.m.
According to a staff report, the property would be consolidated with the adjacent lots to provide space for the new animal shelter.
Sign bylaw updated
It’s a sign of the times.
Following a June 26 public hearing, city council agreed to update its sign bylaw. Prior to the public hearing, the city consulted with local businesses, business associations and city committees and did an online survey.
“The updated bylaw would improve the structure and clarity of sign regulations within the city,” said Jackie Teed, the city’s acting director of development services. “More specifically, it would promote high-quality signs while recognizing the needs of businesses, reduce clutter and unsightliness of signs. It would reduce the need for development variance permits, recognize and incorporate new types of signs and new technologies and reflect and enhance the character of unique commercial areas.”
Daycare’s plans defeated
The city has rejected a local day care society’s request for funds that would allow it to expand its faciltity in uptown New West.
In July 2016, city council voted against a request from the Glenbrook Daycare Society for funding to cover the cost of hiring a code consultant and upgrades to a building at 701 Sixth St. In response to a second request from the society in July 2017, council once again voted against the request.
“Given that the city’s priority is to fund child care in Queensborough; given that the child care reserve has already been exhausted and funding is being requested from other sources to meet the significant needs in Queensborough; given that the society’s request would establish a precedent whereby it would be difficult to deny similar requests from other non-profit child-care providers; and given that the anticipated upgrades are significant and costly, staff is recommending that council not fund the society’s second request for financial support,” said a staff report.
In addition to a code consultant, estimated to cost $10,000 to $12,000, a staff report stated that upgrades such as a fire escape, new plumbing and new fencing, fire separations, and sprinklers could cost $30,000.
If a group doesn’t get the financial support it wants, that doesn’t mean the city doesn’t support child care, said Coun. Jaimie McEvoy, noting the city must give equal treatment to different groups and maximize the effectiveness of city funds.
“It’s important to look at the actual benefits of each expenditure and the cost of each expenditure, to not only maximize the number of spaces we can create but to ensure those spaces have a quality that would pass the inspection of Fraser Health,” he said. “We do have some limits in terms of how much we can favour any one group.”
Council says so long to Shaw
Shaw Cable has shown its last New Westminster city council meeting.
The July 10 council meeting marked the final airing of a council meetings on the station, which has broadcast the meetings live and rebroadcast them later in the week for many years. Shaw TV is closing its community television stations in Metro Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton in August and will be partnering with Global News on local news coverage across the region.
“It’s sad that we are losing that,” said Coun. Puchmayr. “I know a lot of people don’t watch it all the time but when there are issues that people can’t get out to, it was a great way to tune in on a public hearing or an event that was really topical. … It’s a real loss to our community, not only for council but all the other parts of the community programming.”
The city is working with its live-streaming provider to enhance its online services and expects to have these features in place later this summer
