The proposed Sixth Street Community Plan got thumbs up from residents and businesses, and on Monday night Burnaby council endorsed it.
The city's plan is to revitalize Sixth Street with a street-oriented, mixed-use urban village development concept including four components: the village street, the neighbourhood commercial hub, the multiple-family district and the commercial gateway.
"The advancement of this community plan will serve to revitalize the subject Edmonds and Sixth Street areas, encourage pedestrian and transit-oriented development, provide a broad range of commercial services to local residents, and enable a mix of housing forms to suit a variety of family types, socioeconomic backgrounds and age groups," said Lou Pelletier, director of planning and building, in the report.
Through the recent public consultation process, the city received 48 responses from a mix of residents, property owners, businesses and non-profit groups.
Forty-one were in support of the plan, while the other seven were not.
The positive comments reaffirmed the city plan's established principles, according to the staff report, which includes improvements to the commercial viability of Edmonds Street and Sixth Street through the concentration of commercial uses; promoting a dynamic streetscape with a strong urban design; and preventing transportation conflicts by promoting transit use, among others.
Three of the seven respondents who were not in support of the plan raised certain issues, such as what the scale would be of future development fronting Wedgewood Street, and if it would overshadow adjacent properties.
City staff says the buildings will be a maximum of four storeys, with commercial uses at the ground level and up to three levels of residential above.
"This proposed four storey form on Edmonds Street would terrace down to a townhouse form along Wedgewood Street of between two-to-three storeys to allow for an appropriate residential to residential relationship across Wedgewood," Pelletier states in the report.
Another three respondents were concerned about a spike in traffic because of the planned development, but city staff said the road network, transit provisions and other alternative modes of travel will support the area.
Burnaby councillors spoke in support of the plan.
Coun. Dan Johnston noted the plans are not grandiose in size, but a nice fit in the community.
