Dragon Boat West

There is going to be an open house for the proposed Creekside Paddling Centre at the Creekside Community Centre on Thursday, June 5, 2014 from 4:00 pm to 7:30 pm.  Please find some time to come to the open house and lend your support and ideas for this long awaited project.  More details and a lot of reading and graphical material at the City of Vancouver site:

http://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/proposed-improvements-for-creekside-paddling-centre.aspx (http://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/proposed-improvements-for-creekside-paddling-centre.aspx)

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Phase One of the Paddling Centre is happening!  The link is to Part 4 of the minutes (i.e the council vote) from the City of Vancouver Public Hearing for the rezoning application for development at the north side of the Cambie Bridge:

http://cityofvan-as1.insinc.com/ibc/mp/md/open/c/317/2310/201406111525wv150en,006 (http://cityofvan-as1.insinc.com/ibc/mp/md/open/c/317/2310/201406111525wv150en,006)

It's really long winded but the end result is that the project is moving forward.  The formal vote is about one minute before the end of the audio stream.  Only one councilor (Adriane Carr) voted against it, all other councilors voted in favour of the project.  If things moves fast, the 2015 Dragon Boat Festival will be happening with new docks and ramps. :-)

Vancouver City Council voted in favour of the development of a two tower complex next to the north end of the Cambie Street Bridge called One Pacific at 998 Expo Boulevard (aka Concord 5B West). http://former.vancouver.ca/commsvcs/planning/rezoning/applications/47nelson/index.htm (http://former.vancouver.ca/commsvcs/planning/rezoning/applications/47nelson/index.htm)

One spin-off is four million dollars voluntary developers' tax called a Community Amenity Contributions that they can either give to a city fund or a city project. In this case it is towards a permanent non-motorized boathouse on the east end of False Creek. This may sound like a lot, but this only helps building phase one of two phase project. Phase one is the building modular temporary reconfigurable docks with secure sheds, water spouts, electrical outlets and a security gate to the City of Vancouver Olympic Village dock. The idea is this is owned by the City of Vancouver, managed by Vancouver Parks and leased to stakeholders of non-motorized boating in False Creek, not necessarily to the exclusion of all others.

The few people who spoke against the project was the False Creek Residents Association. Funny enough, they had high praises of Concord Pacific as a developer and of One Pacific as a design.  They also spoke highly of the rowers and paddlers who they worked closely with in past regattas and festivals. Their only concern has been the promise of the north-east development of the False Creek shoreline as a park. They had their green light campaign all over False Creek. The developers have promised a park there for twenty-four years, yet no park has been developed.  Currently the land is being used as a Concord Pacific showroom, parking lot and the Cirque du Soleil site. The promise was based on a calculation of land per resident. The resident cap for this area has changed to which there may not be enough land for the promise. There is also the renewing of the long-term plan for the area, which includes the removal the Dunsmuir and Georgia Streets viaducts, a new multi-lane surface thoroughfare around north-east False Creek, toxic soil removal from the old mills and chemical factories sites and the gentrification of the downtown east side.

The word of warning from the FCRA speakers to the dragon boat speakers was they were promised something that has not been delivered, and dragon boaters may be facing the same thing. Also, the current site of Paddlers' Village is being developed by Concert Properties. If the festival is to remain, the "proposed" park on north-east False Creek would be the site. http://www.concertproperties.com/condos/list/greater-vancouver (http://www.concertproperties.com/condos/list/greater-vancouver)

And let us not forget about the 2009 discussion on this. The ultimate aim for dragon boaters would be to have a dragon boat facility (boat house), at the north-east corner of False Creek where the park is supposed to be.
http://www.dragonboatwest.net/index.php?topic=5358.msg51081;topicseen#msg51081 (http://www.dragonboatwest.net/index.php?topic=5358.msg51081;topicseen#msg51081)

I noticed that GOON directed comments about the individual councillors. From what I saw, Mayor Gregor Robertson to be efficient as a moderator, but courteous to allow presenters to complete their thoughts beyond the five-minute time limits. I found Councillors George Affleck, Adriane Carr, Geoff Meggs and Tim Stevenson to be well-prepared and asked good questions to presenters affected by this project. Of these four councillors, I hope they continue to guide their planning department on the long-term plans for the north-east end of False Creek. Adriane Carr did not vote against a boat house, she voted against of sweeping the park issue for another day, and be well in mind of this if the City of Vancouver wishes to sweep away the issue of a dragon boat house when it becomes inconvenient.