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Activities |
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Neighbourhood Energy Utility |
The Neighbourhood Association was successful in stopping the
Neighbourhood Energy Utility, to be built under the Cambie
Bridge, from using wood chips for fuel. It will now
provide space heat to the buildings in the new S.E.F.C.,
with a system that pulls heat from sewage. We were
also successful in eliminating one large stack and lowering
the profile of the building. After City Council
instructed the engineers to work with the community, we
joined with the design team and contributed to an outcome
that won the support of the neighbours and praises from
engineering. Construction will begin in a matter of
months.
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Neighbourhood Association Gets Proactive
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City planners working on S.E.F.C. have yet to plan:
- the traffic interface with our community
- what will happen under the Cambie Bridge, and
- the access to the RAV line station at 6th and Cambie
The Planning Committee, which includes representatives
from most of the housing enclaves east of Moberley, is
undertaking a design process to engage our own residents in
crafting neighbourhood-oriented solutions to each of these
issues.
Public meetings are to be held regularly. These public meetings will identify 3
to 4 participants from each building, and will be followed
by several workshop sessions where these residents work up
designs to address the issues. Professional resources
will be made available to these groups as required.
We expect to complete our planning, seek confirmation
from the neighbourhood that these are indeed solutions, and
present to the city planning before they begin their
planning of the area. If you want to be involved in
this process, come to any of our meetings (next one to
be posted on our home page).
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Unanimous
Opposition to Traffic Pattern |
There will be a volume of traffic coming from the new S.E.
False Creek community as they drive west, towards us.
That community will house up to 15,000 people and most will
want to drive their cars of course. The traffic route
that we understand is favoured by the City ahs First Ave.
coming west and joining in with the rail tracks, as it comes
under the Cambie Bridge and continues parallel to Commodore,
then swinging up (southerly) on Ash. This means the
residents along Commodore - Connaught Co-op, Newport and
Discovery Quays - will be looking south over Commodore, the
continuation of First, west to Ash that includes the rail
line, the RAV station and 6th Avenue ... wall to wall
pavement, tracks, train and cars. They are up in arms!
Through meetings and a petition. the residents of
Newport, Discovery and Connaught Co-op have opposed
Engineering's plans. They say they don't want the
S.E.F.C. traffic dumped into the neighbourhood.
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RAV Station Access |
At this time, the planned access to the Canada Line station
at 6th and Cambie, is limited to the 6th Avenue side. There
is no plan for access form the south side of 6th, under the
street, and no access from our community on the north of the
station. We think there should be better access, and with
neighbours, expect we can contribute to an improved design.
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Promenade
to the Creek from RAV Station |
The third issue we are bringing to the city’s attention is
the idea of doing something under the Cambie Bridge that is
not the basketball courts and skateboard park the Parks
Board favours. Residents in this area, parallel to the
Cambie Bridge, would like to see a promenade that brings
people form the RAV station to the water. This would provide
for a gentle interface between the new community of S.E.F.C
and our own. A concept design has already been drafted and
is gaining considerable positive attention.
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The Arbutus Greenway |
The fourth issue, although you can see by now they are
inter-related, is the use of the Arbutus Greenway. That is
the city-owned rail corridor parallel to 6th Ave. Although
it is officially a “greenway,” city engineering sees it
exclusively as a future street car line. We believe there is
an opportunity to come up with a multi-purpose corridor that
might include an express bike/skate board/roller blade route
(that would get the speeding bikes off the seawall walkway),
protection of animal habitat, possible allotment gardens, as
well as a future street car.
About two years ago SPEC undertook a study of the Arbutus
Corridor from Marpole to 4th and Burrard, There were a
number of creative ideas for this right-of-way that might
stimulate some creative design. This is in our back yard and
whatever happens along this line is going to impact our
neighbourhood. If anyone would like to become involved in
this or the preceding issues, attend one of the meetings or
contact the planning group member in your building. If there
isn’t one, perhaps you would like to be the contact.
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Dogs Off Leash
Charleson Park |
The FCSNA has struck a
"Dogs Off Leash" at Charleson Park sub committee. The
committee has communicated with the Parks Board about their
concerns, described below in the petition that is currently
in circulation.
Regarding Family Use of Waterfall
Area in Charleson Park
The undersigned are concerned about the
dominance of off-leash dogs in the waterfall area in
Charleson Park during designated on-leash hours. This area
has become increastingly unusable for False Creek residents
and particularly for families with children. Requests to
dog-owners to respect on-leash regulations in this area are
often unsuccessful, and have too often led to verbal
harassment.
We support efforts to enforce the current
by-laws requiring dogs to be leashed in the waterfall area
from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., June 1 to September 31.
You will find the following additional information on
this site:
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