Public Realm Design Standards for Town Centre Streets

As Brentwood continues to change with current and future developments on the books, we will begin to see increased street-level human activity.

The City of Burnaby has posted guidelines for street and sidewalk design in its town centres.  Brentwood Town Centre is mentioned with a map of the area included.  The following images and more detailed information are available for viewing on the City of Burnaby website through the link below:

https://eagenda.burnaby.ca/sirepub/cache/2/4lflounqx3uk0ljtonits1tz/611801192015104944811.PDF

Burnaby Mayor on Solo District

The following video links were found on skyscraperpage with comments on the Solo District Development.  Through the above link, there are other video links on Solo District. Skyscraperpage.com is a great site with informative forum threads on various developments around the world.

Mayor Derek Corrigan

Jason Bernstein of Chris Dikeakos Architects

Why is real estate so expensive in Metro Vancouver?

This is not meant to be a political blog but sometimes I need to let out my beliefs when something hits a nerve.

According to a Burnaby NewLeader article below, Burnaby has the third highest real estate prices in Canada. What is the reason behind such high real estate prices in Burnaby and Metro Vancouver?

Politician's Answer

If you ask provincial politicians, they will tell you that land values in Metro Vancouver have remained among the highest in North America because of things like immigration, overseas investment or the fact that Metro Vancouver is such a wonderful place to live because it is arguably one of the most diverse regions in the world.  Ask a real estate agent and you will receive the same cookie-cutter, rah, rah, rah answer.  If you ask someone that is really creative, they will tell you that it is a combination of the above factors along with other economic factors that has led to Metro Vancouver having such "valuable" land.  Don't get me wrong, the above reasons ARE  factors in making property values higher but there is more to it than what the "experts" are always parroting.

What BC politicians will never tell you about high property values in Metro Vancouver and elsewhere in BC is the fact that property tax rates for residents and non-residents* are the same in Metro Vancouver, allowing non-residents to use Metro Vancouver real estate as a shelter/hedge for their accumulated cash against anticipated foreign currency price fluctuations.  This is true for locals who own secondary properties aside from their primary residences and pay the same rate as non-locals who own multiple properties.  They pay the same rate on non-primary properties.

* Note: "non-resident" refers to those either not living in BC or not living in Canada altogether.

A simple counter argument to the tax-rate argument is that there currently already is a higher property tax rate on properties that are not the primary residence of the owner.  This difference is not only minuscule in comparison to the primary-residence rate, but even that can be overcome by having a non-primary residence address registered as a primary residence of a family member such as a spouse or offspring.  Taken even further, non-residents of BC are easily able to own real estate and falsely report a BC property as their primary residence allowing them to pay the same tax rate as BC residents.  The fact remains that non-residents pay the same rate as residents.

Real Estate Stock Market

The best part, for such speculators that do not want to go through the minor hassles of registering multiple homes under different family members or pretending to live here, is the fact that the tax rate difference between primary and non-primary homes is small enough to not even worry about it.  It is not unheard of for wealthy non-residents to buy up as many as ten homes in one swoop and sit on those empty homes while they pay a small fee to have them maintained while they sit empty.   Those empty homes, not being in either the real estate or the rental market, put artificial upward pressure on Metro Vancouver real estate prices, leaving locals to compete for a smaller share of the real estate pie, whether they are buying or renting, with earnings made locally at rates that have not kept pace with rising real estate prices, putting further upwards pressure on whatever little is left in the local real estate market.  Look at high-rise towers throughout Metro Vancouver in the evening from 6pm to 10pm and you will see many darkened spaces, sometimes as many as half are darkened where units are unoccupied but owned by someone.

What does this mean for Metro Vancouver residents?  Actual residents of Metro Vancouver that really live in BC and earn BC wages are subject to property price manipulations in Metro Vancouver as non-BC speculators drop large sums of their cash (earned from outside of the BC economy), placing upward pressure on property values.  We have essentially been subject to our BC Governments having allowed our real estate market to become a manipulated stock market.  This has been allowed to happen under the watch of BC Governments, regardless of party affiliation.  Why has this not been identified as an issue?  Is it because politicians don't want to make an effort to solve a complex problem or is it because they are not smart enough to identify it as a problem?  I believe the truth lies somewhere between the two possibilities depending on which politician you ask.

The well-being of locals that earn local wages is negatively impacted by competition from non-locals that have accumulated their cash in economies outside of BC's.  Such negative impacts are felt locally with the need for affordable housing being an important topic for Metro Vancouver today.  If we ask our politicians, past and present who have or are currently making a career out of so-called issues while ignoring issues that directly effect the economic well-being of local taxpaying residents, why they have failed to correct a problem that has existed over the span of their political careers, I wonder what their answer would be?  I don't believe that any politician has ever been directly asked about non-resident ownership, and believe that they have been given a free pass on this issue while we continue to get bombarded in the media about positive annual reviews about Vancouver's high livability ratings.  Why is an inequitable property tax system not an issue considering the efforts provincial and federal governments make to protect Canadian corporations from foreign takeovers while individuals are left to their own devices at the residential real estate level?

No Money for Transit Improvements

We are continually told that local residents must seriously consider paying property tax levies or road tolls to pay for transit and road infrastructure improvements but are continually ignoring the wealthy non-resident property owners that pay a relatively nominal investment fee known as a property tax.  There needs to be a benefit for all locals rather than just the benefits that some locals have gained by speculating in higher real estate prices spurred by non-local investment.

The answer to propped up real estate prices which negatively impact local residents can and should be a an exponentially higher tax rate for non residents compared to local residents, regardless of whether it is a primary or non-primary residence.  How would politicians figure out who actually lives here or not?  If they do not already know how to determine this, our problem is much greater than the public thinks considering how many non-residents are benefitting from and draining public services that are meant to benefit local residents and NOT non-residents pretending to live here.  What have our decision-makers been doing all these decades while earning great salaries and life-long pensions?  The unasked, unanswered questions continue to exist while our politicians come and go with their high salaries and gold-plated pensions at the public's expense.



Burnaby NewsLeader - News

Burnaby the third most-expensive real estate in Canada: study

By Wanda Chow - Burnaby NewsLeader
Published: December 05, 2012 12:00 PM 
Updated: December 05, 2012 12:26 PM

Burnaby is the third-most expensive market in Canada to buy a home after Vancouver and Richmond, according to a study by Coldwell Banker Real Estate.

The study looked at Coldwell Banker’s average listing prices of four-bedroom, two-bathroom properties on its company website between January and June of this year.

In Burnaby, the average price for the company’s listings was $917,968, after Vancouver’s $1.87 million and Richmond’s $1.18 million.

Burnaby was well ahead of fourth place, Oakville, Ont. at $745,000. The most affordable city in the study was Windsor, Ont., with an average listing price of $170,991.

Arthur Ng, manager of Coldwell Banker Westburn Realty, said Burnaby’s popularity with home buyers is due to its proximity to Vancouver and its central location yet being relatively more affordable.

“I think people are realizing, I only have so much money and I don’t want to be out in the boonies,” Ng said.

Richmond’s market is more influenced by Asian buyers, specifically those from overseas.

But Ng said those buyers aren’t just investors and speculators.

“That’s what the misconception is. I wouldn’t call it an investment ... Their kids are going to school [here] so they buy properties for them and they have plans to retire here, and many of them have come to retire here.”

Ng said many overseas Asian buyers have bought here and set down roots, planting their families, attracted by the stability of Canada, but with the breadwinners sometimes continuing to work back in their home countries.

They often settle in Richmond because they feel at home with its many Asian shops and restaurants.

“Of course the prices now are so high there so that’s why now they’re coming to Burnaby,” which has its own share of Asian shops and services, said Ng.

In recent months, after the study period, Ng said his company’s Burnaby list prices (as opposed to sale prices) have dropped by five to eight per cent.

“People are realizing that, the market’s slowing down, if I need to sell I need to adjust my price in order to get some activity on it,” Ng said.

“But by no means are we seeing a fire sale.”

As for whether prices will drop further, he believes that’s unlikely since most people are living in or renting out their homes.

In the United States, people are scrambling to sell to get out of the market after becoming victims of too much speculation, he said.

“But no one here sells their principal residence for no reason just because the market is bad.”

Prospective buyers who have been holding off waiting for prices to drop further are starting to see there are no drastic reductions likely and are jumping back into the market while interest rates are still low.

“We’re seeing a bit of a turnaround already now.”

In 2008 and 2009, local real estate prices dropped by 20 to 25 per cent “but it came back like wildfire within nine months. That was a global collapse, we’re not in a global collapse now.”

Ng predicts prices will continue to go up, but more gradually than in the past when 10 to 20 per cent jumps were common. Instead, in the next few years he sees prices rising two to five per cent annually.

Those larger increases simply weren’t sustainable, he said, but the Lower Mainland continues to be an attractive place to live, drawing upwards of 60,000 new people to B.C. each year which helps fuel the local housing market.

twitter.com/WandaChow

Burnaby NewsLeader - Opinion

COLUMN: Burnaby must do more for the homeless

By Chris Bryan - Burnaby NewsLeader

Published: December 05, 2012 11:00 AM 

Updated: December 05, 2012 11:45 AM

Burnaby does a great job helping to provide social housing.

For most people of modest means, living with a disability, elderly—or all three—there is a decent array of options. It could always be better, of course, but in general this city's got it covered.

And the City of Burnaby deserves credit for working with developers, the province, Ottawa and local non-profit agencies to help that happen.

But where it falls short is with the city's most vulnerable people. The homeless.

As many will know, there is no permanent shelter for the homeless in this rapidly growing city of 225,000 people. Vancouver, New West, Surrey, Langley, Maple Ridge and the North Shore all have shelters, but not Burnaby.

The only option is during a few months of the year when a local church opens its doors and staff from the Lookout Emergency Services Society operate an extreme weather shelter. And it's only open on nights when weather is severe enough that it can create a higher health risk to homeless people.

So for the rest of the year in Burnaby people can be found sleeping in Central Park, tenting in the forest behind Discovery Park, and using the washrooms at the McGill branch as though they are their private bathroom facilities.

Or they're forced to go to Vancouver. Or New West, or one of the growing host of cities working to fill this vital piece of the housing continuum. The Greater Vancouver Shelter Strategy website shows more than two dozen shelters for the homeless in Vancouver, depending upon the time of year. Many are year-round. In New Westminster, a city of 60,000, there are four.

Burnaby doesn't do permanent shelters.

Why? To prove a point?

Mayor Derek Corrigan says housing is not a municipal responsibility, and under his leadership the city has stood its ground on the issue.

In interviews, he's called the practice of giving people a bed indoors for the night, then pushing them out the door in the morning “ridiculous social policy," that distracts from dealing with the core issues of why these people are on the street in the first place.

He points to provincial government policies that have cut people off welfare, closed mental health institutions and increased the child poverty rate. He points to the fact that until recently, B.C. had the lowest minimum wage in Canada.

And he's also criticized Ottawa for all-but ceasing to fund social housing 20 years ago.

And those are all fair comments. They really are.

But in the '90s when Ottawa drastically reduced funds for health care, social programs and infrastructure did the provinces and cities just hold the line on everything to make a point? No, because some things are essential.

Back in 2006, the provincial government put a call out to cities. They said if you put up a piece of land and waive the development costs, we'll build and fund new housing for the homeless.

Eight cities responded. Vancouver put up 14 sites. Cities such as Surrey, Maple Ridge, Abbotsford and Kelowna also put up sites.

Where was Burnaby?

Why is a city with almost $600 million in reserves—one of the richest municipalities in Canada—doing nothing?

Corrigan says it's a slippery slope: Look at Vancouver's rising property taxes, he says—aren't they exceeding their mandate at residents' expense?

That's a red herring. Burnaby can afford to take the risk. It can make a start by offering a single piece of land, maybe even with a building on it. Near Metrotown, at the edge of an industrial area, near the SkyTrain line.

It's time for a permanent shelter in Burnaby.

This city must do its part.

• Chris Bryan is editor of the NewsLeader.

30% of cars on Brentlawn go over 60 km/h

Wanting to have an idea of how many cars speed through Brentlawn Drive during rush hour, I decided to record the traffic between 4:35 and 5:59.  The distance within view of the camera being over 100 meters,  I timed how long it took for each car to pass through the view of the camera to get a rough average speed along the stretch in view of the camera.  The speeds are likely greater than I measured as I based my calculations on 100 meters and the distance is actually greater.  As the title suggests, many cars are well over the speed limit.  Travelling at 10 km/h over the speed limit on a major road is considered to be pushing the limits.  Doing the same thing on Brentlawn Drive is more than just pushing the limits; it is excessive.  To make it worse, the drivers were speeding while it was pouring rain.  Here is the breakdown of the stats:

A total of 315 cars were recorded passing through Brentlawn Drive between 4:35 and 5:59 on Friday February 24.  

• 158 cars travelled below 55 km/h
• 157 cars (49.8%) travelled in excess of 55 km/h
• 96 cars (30.4%) travelled in excess of 60 km/h
• 57 cars (18.1%) travelled in excess of 65 km/h
• 27 cars (8.6%) travelled in excess of 70 km/h
• 8 cars (2.5%) travelled in excess of 75 km/h
• 2 cars travelled in excess of 80 km/h

There would have been higher speeds and more speeders if oncoming traffic had not slowed drivers down and if it hadn't been raining.

Here are some of the highlights (lowlights, really):

Municipal candidates share views on development and density

Tonight I will be attending the All-Candidates debate at Gilmore Elementary School to hear the candidates' views on development in the Brentwood Neighbourhood.  Over the past few weeks, some of the candidates have expressed some of their views on the concept of density as the election nears.  For anyone interested in going, the doors open at 6:30.  The following articles/letters are from the Burnaby Newsleader.

Burnaby NewsLeader

Protect neighbourhoods from rapid change: Murchie

By Wanda Chow - Burnaby NewsLeader
Published: November 01, 2011 12:00 PM
Updated: November 01, 2011 12:28 PM

Neighbourhoods around Burnaby’s SkyTrain stations are undergoing significant change as they are being redeveloped to accommodate higher densities. The planning department says it’s all according to its Official Community Plan, the basis of which was created in the 1960s. Other than occasional updates, Burnaby city hall has been working towards fulfilling that vision.

The NewsLeader asked three council candidates: What do you think about the pace of development in Burnaby?

Incumbent Coun. Colleen Jordan, Burnaby Citizens’ Association, is chair of the city’s community development committee and retired former secretary-treasurer for CUPE-BC.

“The key question is whether Burnaby can continue to grow as a diverse, modern city, while ensuring we maintain the values that make us a leader in Canada. The answer is a resounding yes!

Following our Official Community Plan (OCP), and in consultation with residents, we have increased density in our town centres, while preserving green space and single family neighbourhoods.

In the 1980s I lived in Middlegate. Over 30 years the new Highgate area has evolved, complete with new city facilities like a firehall, library, and recreation centre.  Private development replaced the mall, and new housing continues to expand. This is exactly what the OCP envisioned.

As one resident commented respecting the new plan to rebuild the [Station Square] Save-On-Foods site with a pedestrian-friendly urban village, ‘It’s about time.’

Too fast, or too slow, I would say it’s just about the right pace.”

Carrie McLaren, Burnaby Municipal Greens, currently works in the accounting office of a Burnaby firm while studying business at Capilano College.

“From just personal observation, the pace of development looks healthier than in the past few years. Two townhouse developments finally finishing up in my neighbourhood. They had been delayed for a few years leaving empty lots and holes in the ground due to the economic recession.

According to the city’s website numbers, 2011 so far has seen double the new construction starts of 2010. The overwhelming majority is single-family and multi-family developments. One item I’ve noticed, the city seems to depend on developers to create neighbourhood sidewalks—leaving them a patchwork of incomplete sections.

We will need to continue to replace, update and renovate older buildings and homes over the next 20 years or so, and find ways of creating new housing for future population growth (over one million in Lower Mainland cities in the next 30 years, according to Metro Vancouver). Also, we can’t forget the commercial and industrial sector if we are to continue to have a good mix of residential and business in Burnaby.”

Graham Murchie, Team Burnaby, is a retired urban planner.

“When I was Surrey chief planner, our growth rate was much higher than Burnaby’s now. We prepared for it, had up-to-date plans in place, and we talked to the residents, and required that developers consult residents too. Change happened without too much conflict because people knew what was happening. This is not the case in Burnaby today.

1. Burnaby’s plans are hopelessly out-of-date. The Metrotown plan, for example, is 34 years old! We need to create a new vision for Burnaby.

2. Our neighbourhoods must be protected from dramatic change, and residents must shape what happens. Council needs public input on how this growth is to occur, what to do about secondary suites, affordable housing, and so on.

3. The development process must be more open. In every community in B.C. developers are required to consult with the community before bringing forward a new proposal. This does not happen in Burnaby.”

Burnaby Newsleader

Density in Burnaby is good—to a point

Re: Burnaby residents support city centre concept(Letters, NewsLeader, Oct. 21)

Published: November 01, 2011 12:00 PM
Updated: November 01, 2011 12:25 PM

I want to thank Lee Rankin for keeping the issue of densification in the spotlight. It gives the Municipal Green Party an opportunity to educate Team and the BCA about the Green position on the subject.

First of all, Greens support densification. Specifically we support densification within walking distance of transit hubs.

Owing to its geography, Burnaby is fortunate to have 11 Skytrain stations inclusive of the four town centre stations. The decision to densify four of them a half century ago might have been “visionary” at the time, but the world has changed considerably since the Sixties and Seventies (and so have the BCA).

I doubt most people of that time anticipated the worldwide changes in human migration, the reality of a global economy, climate change, ALR encroachment, or local food security.

Another misconception is that council has the capacity to rezone a property against the wishes of the property owner. If a homeowner wishes to rezone a property, they can apply to do so. Those owners with single and two family lots that had the good fortune to buy close to a SkyTrain hub deserve the opportunity to rezone their property to higher density, make a handsome profit from doing so and reduce the ecological footprint of the people that settle there in the future.

One point that we can agree upon with Mr. Rankin is the need for a community “buy-in” to densification.

As far as I can see, when the supplementary density bonus amendment “S-zoning” was introduced and unanimously approved by the current council, there was little, if any, public consultation or input.

New towers being constructed or considered are planned to be 50 to 100 percent taller than anything that existed in the town centers before. These projects will add to congestion and over-crowding. Greens believe the affected neighbourhoods were not given an opportunity to “buy-into” this S-zoning.

If the BCA and Team want to vilify Greens for trying to give a voice to people in the town centers then so be it.

Rick McGowan

Green candidate for city council

Burnaby NewsLeader

Burnaby residents support city centre concept

Published: October 20, 2011 4:00 PM 

Updated: October 20, 2011 4:41 PM

I read Grant Granger’s column “A surreal spin around Metrotown” (NewsLeader, Oct. 7) with great interest. Many of his observations hit the mark and reflect more than three decades of collective wisdom around the issue of urban growth.

Conceived in the late seventies and early eighties, Burnaby’s major town centres—Metrotown, Brentwood, Lougheed and Edmonds—were designed to be hubs of residential and commercial activity, as well as transportation hubs.

The town centre concept has been supported historically across the political spectrum in Burnaby. As a council member and past housing committee chair, I always believed it was important that there was a community “buy-in” to the town centre concept and densification. High density development outside the town centre has been restricted and successive councils have taken care to ensure that multi-family and commercial development in other areas has followed careful consultation.

There has never been much appetite for densification of single and two-family neighbourhoods and it is indeed surprising and a bit troubling that some aspiring politicians are advocating for it now.

Lee Rankin

Team Burnaby council candidate

More parks needed as density increases

For the first time, I attended a public hearing at Burnaby City Hall on Nov 23rd . It was uneventful as nobody spoke to the issue that interested me the most, which is the plan to amend the wording of the density bonus policy allowing for increased density and taller buildings in Burnaby's town centres. With nobody expressing their opposition to the proposal, it seems that town centers such as Brentwood will see increased building heights and densities for new developments. Increasing density and building higher up in town centers is a good idea from an environmental perspective as it allows for larger numbers of people to live and work in a concentrated area rather than in an outwardly expanding direction that increasingly encroaches into the surrounding natural environment and agricultural land as has been the case for the past 30 years with development in Metro Vancouver.

With the idea of having more people concentrated in and around town centres becoming increasingly accepted, the issue of park space and related recreational amenities serving an increasing population becomes obvious. Brentwood Town Centre has seen a dramatic increase in its residential population during the past 10 years. Local recreational amenities such as the Eileen Daily and Willingdon Heights Community centres, Kensington and Burnaby Lake arenas and local outdoor parks such as Confederation Park have served the area extremely well. With the exception of the Willingdon Heights Community Centre, all of the places mentioned are located well outside of the Brentwood area and require travel by car to reach such amenities.

With more residential and commercial development planned for the area, the building of park space evenly interspersed throughout the Brentwood area will be much needed in the future, if it isn't already needed.

Close proximity of a home to parks is one of the important features that attracts potential home-buyers to any neighbourhood. If designed well, park and recreational space can be efficiently placed throughout the Brentwood area to cater to a variety of needs.

The most basic park space is one that includes a children's play area. Such parks should exist within a 10 minute walk of every residence in the Brentwood Town Centre area. The ability to walk children to a park instead of driving them there is important in creating a pedestrian culture (at least within the neighbourhood) Other amenities such as basketball, ball/roller hockey space can be incorporated into a park setting to encourage locals to play a variety of sports. Parks that include large trees to create an oasis effect is important to making a park appealing to potential users (merely planting an open grass field does not qualify as creating park space).

Brentwood Town Centre Skyline Takes Shape

For those of us who have lived in North Burnaby since the days when SuperValu existed at the west end of the old one-level Brentwood Mall, the opening of the Millennium Line's Brentwood Town Centre Station in 2002 was an important event in the transformation of this growing neighbourhood. Whereas the neighbourhood once mainly consisted of industrial and commercial buildings along Lougheed Hwy, the emergence of Brentwood Town Centre Station has resulted in the neighbourhood becoming a major transit hub for Burnaby as the skyline of high-rise residential and office towers takes shape.

Since 2002, the area to the north and south of Lougheed Hwy between the Holdom and Gilmore stations has seen the construction of at least 17 residential high-rise towers and many low-rise residential and commercial office buildings, with at least 10 more high-rises either currently under construction or at the planning stage. The ever-increasing population in the neighbourhood will lead to ever-increasing opportunities for existing and future businesses to grow here.

As a resident of the area, I cannot help but be excited about the prospect of this area becoming a major transportation, residential, commercial and entertainment hub in Metro Vancouver. Through this blog and links posted here, I hope to highlight developments in this neighbourhood for those that are interested in living, doing business, or merely enjoying what the area around Brentwood Station has to offer.