Citynow

As Burnaby approves taller and taller condo towers,the underground parking gets deeper and deeper: ‘It’ll take 10 minutes just for somebody to park their car,’said a councillor

LaurenVanderdeen

lvanderdeen@burnabynow

com

A giant Burnaby tower project in Lougheed with 14 levels of underground parking, almost 50 metres deep, raised eyebrows at city council this week

“It just seems ridiculous to have this much parking,” Coun Alison Gu said on June 5 at third reading of the two-tower Pinnacle International development at 9850 Austin Rd and 9859/9898 Gatineau Place.

The project, steps away from Lougheed SkyTrain station, includes 1,612 vehicle parking spots for residents and more than a thousand more for commercial, car share and car wash stalls

“I don’t think that’s realistic for anybody to be driving; it’s right across from the SkyTrain It’ll take 10 minutes just for somebody to park their car,” Gu said, asking if staff could adjust the amount of parking

Ed Kozak, the city’s general manager of plan- ning and development, said staff would be reporting to council “very shortly” on the matter, as they are already working on a parking analysis for the project.

He said the development plan permits a maximum for parking, but building less parking would “be within the realm of what can be done (after third reading).”

But it’s not the first time parking at a major development has sparked coun-

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