Behind the heart of the proposed $37-million Metrotown SkyTrain facelift is a heated debate over where the diesel buses should go.
As the Burnaby NOW previously reported, TransLink has applied to the city for a rezoning bylaw amendment to allow for the expansion and upgrade to the Metrotown station, including the relocation of its bus exchange.
TransLink has proposed two options so far: one would have buses located across the street from the station, along the north side of Central Boulevard; the second option involves buses going to the south side of Central Boulevard, between the station and Beresford Street.
Since the application was filed in May, council has had many workshops with TransLink to refine the concepts for the station's redevelopment. The mayor and councillors said a bus loop on Beresford Street would not meet the city's vision for that area.
However, according to the TransLink access transit users' advisory committee the south side location at Beresford Street is the right option.
"After reviewing both proposals for potential accessibility benefits and conflicts, the committee raised serious concerns with the proposed location of buses along the north side of Central Boulevard, as it would require seniors and persons with disabilities to cross Central Boulevard to interline between buses and the SkyTrain," states Pam Horton, chairperson of the committee, in a letter to council.
The committee is comprised of 19 members from all over the Lower Mainland, including Burnaby and New West. It works to advise TransLink on all plans and projects the transit authority funds and how to make it more accessible for seniors and disabled people.
The committee has asked council to "consider the ongoing negative impact the proposed Central Boulevard bus exchange design would have on seniors and persons with disabilities who live in Burnaby."
"These negative impacts include creating barriers to direct transfers at this major transportation hub, forcing seniors and persons with disabilities to walk longer distances to access transportation options," she added.
The committee is not alone in supporting the buses moving to Beresford Street.
Graeme Silvera, vice-president of retail development for the Western Region for Ivanhoe Cambridge, says he's been working with TransLink consistently over the last three months and would like to see the buses move to the south side location of Beresford, as well.
"Ultimately, in the future we'd like a solution to also route trolley buses away from that area," Silvera told the NOW. "Ultimately, that would be the preference for Ivanhoe Cambridge. It would be a future site of Metrotower IV one day."
Ivanhoe Cambridge is the development and management company for the office complex connected to Metropolis at Metrotown. It bought Metrotown Centre in 2002. It also owns and operates the mall.
The trolley buses will not move in the foreseeable future, Silvera noted, because it is too difficult to move the electric wiring above.
"Longterm buses should be on the south side," he said. "As the owners of the mall, we definitely (prefer) the south side of Central Boulevard."
Silvera said shopping centres are evolving around the way people access them, leaning towards transit more and more. And having buses in front of a main entrance to the mall spewing gas is not an ideal situation.
He did note that council's decision will determine the SkyTrain's design in the end.
At the Dec. 2 meeting, Coun. Colleen Jordan brought up a letter to council from VIA Architecture, which is redesigning the Metrotown SkyTrain station. It had leaked two designs of the station that were not yet ready for the public.
Alan Hart, of VIA, wrote the apologetic letter about releasing the images of the two options on its website, which have since been taken down.
"We deeply regret that VIA's enthusiasm for assisting Burnaby and TransLink to create the long-term benefit of resolving an integrated transit exchange has inadvertently triggered this counterproductive controversy," Hart states in the letter.
However, Jordan noted that while the images were taken down, she did not understand why both were shown to the TransLink access transit users' advisory committee as an option.
Mayor Derek Corrigan questioned the merit of the consultation process over the SkyTrain redevelopment TransLink promised, and called it frustrating.
"I think they got a pretty clear view from council that, in fact, one of the options they were proposing didn't fit well with our plans for Beresford Street and we sent them back with instructions to look at other options and ... for some reason it pops out on a website from the architecture company and gets given to an advisory group ... so they can make a decision," he said. "I'm not going to infer bad motives but I'll let others draw their own conclusions."
TransLink spokesperson Jiana Ling said it's regular protocol to show its advisory group all materials, including preliminary renderings of the different options proposed for the SkyTrain redevelopment.
Metrotown SkyTrain's rezoning application will go to a future public hearing date, which has not been set yet.
Hart and Horton did not respond to the Burnaby NOW's request for comment by press deadline.
