Editor:
An open letter to Burnaby city council re: proposed move of Burnaby City Hall:
Metrotown? Seriously?
The City of Burnaby is currently asking residents to weigh in on proposed options for the replacement of its current city hall, which opened in 1955 and was renovated in the early/mid-1990s. Staff cite the current building’s age, lack of accessibility and the high cost of renovating (again) to meet current or future needs.
But the only options being considered (so far) are in Metrotown. Seriously?
I don’t disagree with the project in principle. The existing city hall is indeed old and not particularly valuable as a heritage building. It is far from energy-efficient. It is also one of the most inaccessible municipal office buildings in Greater Vancouver, and the cost of making it so would be absurd, relative to its potential lifespan. All valid reasons to replace the existing Burnaby City Hall building. It isn’t the need, the objective, that I (or Burnaby residents should) have a problem with. It is the location: Metrotown? Seriously?
Metrotown is already one of the most unaffordable neighbourhoods in the region, and it desperately needs more genuinely affordable housing for its mostly retail workforce — not more office space, municipal or otherwise. Plopping city hall in the middle of this urban planning nightmare would only validate previous bad decisions, putting an exclamation point on the notion that working-class renters are not welcome in Metrotown. Seriously?
Although the sites being considered there are on city land, adding a major building to any public space means the loss of that space for nature (remember the Kathleen forest?), recreation and culture, in an already-overcrowded neighbourhood. Anchoring Metrotown as Burnaby’s mythical "downtown" with a new city hall, however attractive or iconic, is folly, as it will inevitably end up surrounded by ever taller condo and office towers.
What a wasted opportunity to make a public land use statement. A better such "statement" would be 1000+ units of non-market rental housing in Metrotown. Seriously!
The bigger question, in the quest to build a new Burnaby City Hall, is why relocate at all? Council needs to be transparent with Burnaby residents to avoid any unsavoury accusations.
But I really ask why we should relocate Burnaby City Hall because, with a phased approach, we could replace city hall and the RCMP detachment on the Deer Lake Centre lands (mainly its parking lots!), across Canada Way from their existing homes, using taller structures with a smaller footprint.
The second phase would have the old buildings replaced with co-operative housing, a Massey or Orpheum Theatre-scale performing arts centre and a year-round public market/community garden. And, as the area around the current city hall site is a food desert (look up the term), a small grocery store would help make that neighbourhood more liveable.
The result is that the geographical heart of Burnaby would also remain its cultural, political and recreational heart, as it should be, regardless of the whims of developers and politicians.
Two things, finally. This process to replace Burnaby City Hall should be suspended a few months, if for no other reason but to avoid another rushed organics facility debacle, at least until we include the current city hall precinct in the visioning stage of the Official Community Plan update. I also strongly encourage all Burnaby residents to participate in the New City Hall Location Survey online.
Scott Van Denham
