Council hears objections to community plans

At least 75 people sign up to speak about changes planned for four neighbourhoods

Vancouver city council is unnecessarily rushing the community plan process for four neighbourhoods, speakers told council Wednesday night.

As a result, council is in danger of adopting flawed plans, residents said.

One of the most powerful voices to bring that message was former Vancouver city planning director Ray Spaxman, who is co- chairman of the Downtown Eastside local area planning committee. Spaxman said the group, made up largely of representatives of disenfranchised low- income residents, needs more time to consider the city’s plans.

Spaxman was the first of at least 75 speakers who signed up to comment on the four community plans being rewritten by the city. He said the DTES committee was presented with 92 pages of the draft plan this week, representing only half the report, and was told they had to have responses back to city manager Penny Ballem within three weeks.

“We concluded you are in danger of approving a plan that doesn’t work,” he said.

On Tuesday, a couple hundred people from a dozen Vancouver neighbourhoods rallied in front of city hall to raise concerns about the community plan process.

City planning director Brian Jackson has recommended his department delay one plan for Grandview- Woodland by up to a year, and another for Marpole by a few months. But he told council he believes draft plans for both the Downtown Eastside and West End are nearly ready to go to public hearing.

Jackson defended the work his planning department has done on the community plans for West End and Downtown Eastside.

He said delaying the DTES plan would severely impact social housing construction projects waiting in the wings.

“There are multiple thousands of people who have been engaged in the public consultation program in the Downtown Eastside, he said.

But Spaxman disagreed with the city’s decision to conduct the four neighbourhood reviews under identical circumstances.

“These are vastly different areas, and they all need to be treated differently,” he said.

Jak King, president of the Grandview Woodlands Area Council, lit into council and accused the planning department of ignoring the community.

“We are here to tell you we are deeply disappointed by this report,” he said. “Sadly, we are not surprised. We are used to not being heard. This report is an indictment of failure in Grandview- Woodland.”

King disputed Jackson’s assertion that his department had deeply consulted with residents in Grandview- Woodland.

“This was not consultation with the community, this was disrespect for the community,” he said.

The hearing is scheduled to continue today.