Cambie Field to make way for condos 3 / It’s not the end of the world 7
the richmond
Fiddler on the Roof entertains at Gateway 11
REVIEW
richmondreview.com Wednesday, December 19, 2012
20 PAGEs
Walmart mall to become ‘urban village centre’ First proposed a decade ago, rezoning application returns to new landscape by Matthew Hoekstra Staff Reporter A new Walmart-anchored shopping mall with as much retail space as five soccer fields will become the commercial heart of a redeveloping West Cambie neighbourhood, according to city planners. On Tuesday, city council’s planning committee heard new details of an open-air shopping centre first proposed 10 years ago that spawned dramatic change in a neighbourhood largely untouched by redevelopment. Staff are recommending the application advance to a public hearing in the new year, despite the developer’s failure to buy land for a road deemed “critical” to the project. “This proposed development is intended to become the urban village centre for the West Cambie area,”
Central at Garden City •SmartCentres has applied to rezone a 5.9-hectare (14.5-acre) site at the northeast corner of Alderbridge Way and Garden City Road •Proposed is a multi-building shopping centre with 387,692 square feet of space, with Walmart as the anchor tenant •Structures range from one to four storeys •First proposed in 2003, prompting city to redraft area plan in 2006 •City council expected to vote on first reading in new year; public hearing would follow Walmart will anchor a new shopping mall in West Cambie, if a rezoning plan is approved by council. This is the view at Alderbridge Way and High Street—a new road east of Garden City Road that will intersect the development.
said senior planner Brian Guzzi in a report tabled this week. First Richmond North Shopping Centres Ltd., a SmartCentres company, is seeking to build a 387,692-square-foot retail centre along Alderbridge Way, at Garden City Road, in the Alexandra neighbourhood. Dubbed “Central at Gar-
den City,” the largest tenant in the 5.9-hectare (14.5 acre) development would be Walmart, while numerous other retailers would also be accommodated. Walmart would be located at Alderbridge Way and High Street—a proposed road just east of Garden City Road. The three-storey building
would have a floor space of 161,188 square feet, roughly the same footprint as the Walmart on Grandview Highway in Vancouver, and the same overall floor area as the Walmart in Queensborough, according to staff. By contrast, the Walmart in South Surrey is 33 per cent larger and is the biggest Metro Vancouver location,
at 215,000-square feet. Planners say most of the 1,153 parking stalls will be hidden in three covered or structured parking areas. One parking lot will be covered by a publicly accessible deck offering 36,400 square feet of green space with pedestrian paths. See Page 3
Steveston waterways to get dredged thanks to 10-year deal City, province, Ottawa and Port Metro Vancouver fund decade-long plan to dredge area waterways by Martin van den Hemel Staff Reporter The inside channel that links Steveston harbour to the Fraser River will be kept free and clear for recreational and commercial boaters thanks to new dredging funding announced Monday morning.
Some $10 million has been committed to the project, funded by the City of Richmond, the province of B.C., Ottawa and Port Metro Vancouver in a decade-long deal. Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said the new funding will benefit all Richmond residents by keeping the waterways navigable and accessible by all boaters for years to come. He noted two incidents in which vessels that use the Steveston channel became beached, including more recently, a tug boat, as well as the 188-foot tall ship Concordia in 2004. Brodie said he doesn’t recall the last time such a long-term commitment to dredging
It’s easy to be green!
the waterways off Steveston was signed. The proposed dredging will meet Transport Canada safe navigation requirements for the largest commercial fishing and recreational vessels that access these channels, according to the announcement. Port Metro Vancouver became the first port authority in Canada to provide funding for local communities. “Through Port Metro Vancouver’s local channel dredging contribution program, I am pleased to commit $2.75 million toward this important collaborative project,” said Port Metro Vancouver president Robin Silvester. In October, a Steveston group warned
Steveston harbour could soon become unusable for Canada’s largest fishing fleet if senior governments didn’t ante up cash for dredging. “It is filling up. If you go in low tide you can almost walk across at some points right now,” said Loren Slye, chair of the Steveston 20/20 group, which represents the village’s nonprofit organizations. “We’re definitely in favour of getting some action and getting it quickly.” The channel is so narrow that vessels with drafts greater than 3.5 metres are at times unable to travel through. At Scotch Pond, the river entrance is now only accessible at high tide by small boats, according to a staff report.
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