WERA General Meeting of March 28, 2023

Blog: http://www.mywestend.blogspot.com Email: weranewwest@gmail.com Twitter: @newwestwera Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WERANewWest Meeting commenced: 19:06. Chair: Elmer Rudolph; Recorder: Gavin McLeod Number of attendees: 6; No city liaison councillor in attendance. Approval of minutes of previous meetings: Motion to approve minutes of Annual General Meeting of January 24th 2023; moved by Joanne Dawe, seconded by Gavin McLeod, approved. Additional Agenda Items: Permeability of single detached lots, development of west end what direction should we be going. Update On Speed Humps (Gavin McLeod): The speed humps were requested by a resident on the corner of 15th Street and Edinburgh. Initially the city rejected the request. Later the city requested a survey of residents between Edinburgh and Eighth on 15th. A majority were in favour of the speed humps. The city measured traffic flow and speed and determined that speed humps were needed. Four speed humps were installed between Dublin and Eighth Ave. Joanne Dawe reported that she has organized an effort to have speed humps installed between Dublin and Tenth Ave. There was discussion about the cost and effectiveness of speed humps. Jassy Braich suggested that speed humps/ bumps should not be a substitute for proper traffic engineering. Update On Large Laneway House between 18th and 19th streets on Eighth Ave. (Elmer Rudolph): Elmer wants answers from the city. Councillor Fontaine was given information and images of the laneway house and will attempt to get answers. He will be asked about this at a Councillor Café session on March 30th at Century House. If Elmer does not get answers, he will visit council chambers to demand answers on behalf of WERA. It would help greatly if he is accompanied by residents of the west end. Motion: If Elmer Rudolph can’t get answers about laneway housing from staff WEA moves that he appear in delegation at a city council meeting to demand answers. Moved/ Seconded/ Carried. Report on Recent Councillor Café Meetings (Gavin McLeod): The most recent Councillor Café Meeting was at Amelia Restaurant at 12th Street and Seventh Ave. The meeting was labeled as West End but there were people from other areas of New Westminster. There was excellent participation, attending people liked the opportunity to talk to elected representatives and feel that they were being heard. There will be another Councillor Café meeting this month on March 30, 2023 at Century House at 09:30 AM. Townhall Forum: Discussing pros and cons of densification in Connaught Heights (Gavin McLeod): The forum will be held on April 25, 2023 at Queensborough Community Centre from 7 pm to 9 pm. There are plans for a brief special guest presentation (TBC) followed by an open question and answer session. Media are expected to be in attendance. The 22nd Street Skytrain station has been the subject to previous meetings but there has not been any substantive progress. Developers are working on aggregating property in the area. Densification around major transportation hubs has proven to be effective in many countries. Development of the 22nd Street Skytrain station will affect more areas of New Westminster than Connaught Heights. Jassy reported that at a city council meeting a large delegation (approx. 50 people) appeared and were supportive of redevelopment. Walk 30 Challenge for 2023 (Mary Wilson): The “Walk 30 Challenge” last year involved Burnaby and New Westminster, this year it is being managed by BEST (Better Environmentally Sound Transportation) and will include New West, Burnaby, Vancouver, and North Vancouver. It will start on April 10th and end on May 14th. It is open to teams and individuals; registration is now open at https://www.walk30.ca/participate Jane’s Walk 2023 (Mary Wilson): Jane’s Walk is named after civic activist Jane Jacobs; it is a world-wide event and has been happening for years. It happens in the middle of the Walk 30 Challenge, May 5th to May 7th. Mary created Jane’s Walk in New Westminster after participating in the Vancouver Jane’s Walks for many years. The website is: https://janeswalk.org/canada/new-westminster/ but it is under reconstruction for now. One person volunteers to lead a walk and invites people to join them. New Westminster Walkers’ Caucus will post information on their website: https://walkerscaucus.ca/ and Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NWWalkersCaucus Permeability on Residential Properties (Gavin McLeod): John Unger brought up the subject of excessive hard surfaces on residential properties. An email from a player suggested that the city’s stormwater plan did not apply to single detached houses. The city’s website has a section titled “Integrated Stormwater Management Plan” that goes on at great lengths to describe the city’s plan to reduce water runoff and to separate the sewer systems. The table of contents for the “Best Management Practice Toolkit” includes Absorbent Landscapes, Infiltration Swales, Rain Gardens, Infiltration Bulges, Pervious Paving, Green Roofs, Tree Well Structures, Rainwater Harvesting, Infiltration Trenches, Water Quality Structures, Detention Tanks. Daylighted Streams, and Constructed Wetlands. That seems ambitious. There is a section on control of water runoff on single dethatched residence properties. Elmer and Gavin remember seeing a bylaw mandating a certain percentage of the property that must be permeable but that could not be found. West End Development Direction (Jassy Braich): Jassy suggested that the city should be open to more diverse development options including small lots of 30 feet width. Jassy suggest that large lots should be eligible for subdivision. Lynn Roxburgh was asked about that and explained that the minimum lot size in the NR-1 area (west end) now has a minimum size of 6,000 square feet so for a lot to be subdividable it would have to be a minimum of 12,000 square feet. A lot would have to be 85 feet by 142 feet, if narrower it would have to be longer. There are probably very few 12,000 square foot lots in the west end. If the lot was rezoned to NR-5 the minimum size would be 4000 square feet but rezoning would have to be approved. Meeting adjourned 20:14 Next Meeting: Next regularly scheduled meeting tentatively set for May 23, 2023 at Unity in Action Church.