Sharing community feedback – part three

This week we bring you more samples of feedback we received via comment cards at Harbourside community engagement events. 

“I worry about the market for office this far away from transit.”

Actually transit does currently serve the Harbourside community. That being said, we recognize that enhanced transit service would be a necessity going forward. Our team has been in talks with TransLink to enhance service by instituting a new route that would serve not only Harbourside, but surrounding communities as well. To facilitate this, Concert would directly subsidize the service through payments to TransLink, a first among the Lower Mainland’s development community. 

“I think it is good...the opportunity to live and work in the same neighbourhood is the right direction. The addition of residential area is mandatory to the development.”

We totally agree, your thoughts align perfectly with our vision for Harbourside. After all, this strategy of mixing uses within a community is not a new concept. Rather, this time-honoured tradition has produced the most renowned cities in Europe by imparting upon them a certain “something special” which is extremely difficult to reproduce in single-purpose communities.  

“I really like the concept of a “whole community”. I just hope that it will be sustainable for the retailers.”

It is our belief that Harbourside will not only be sustainable for our retailers, but that the community will ultimately become a premiere space for entrepreneurs to select. A primary method of increasing traffic to our retailers will be the transformation into a true mixed-use community by adding 800 residential and rental homes, 200,000 sf of high-quality office space and a full-service hotel with banquet capacity. Also, by carefully casting our retail tenants we will be able to expand upon the boutique/artisan tone already set by current Harbourside tenants, thereby drawing visitors from across the North Shore and beyond. To learn more about our vision for the retail space, see “Building on Harbourside as a Destination”.

“Area is clearly underutilized with current zoning as proven by peak-time only congestion. Addition of residential could add work/live opportunities and tier on to Lonsdale Quay could alleviate traffic. Proposal would largely produce counterflow traffic.”

That is exactly the conclusion that our traffic consultants, Bunt & Associates have drawn.

While one might imagine that adding density to an area would automatically equate to traffic congestion, when the use is varied, this is not necessarily the case. To learn more about how we plan to address traffic concerns see “Traffic Concerns at Harbourside”. 

For your opportunity to learn more about Concert’s plans for Harbourside in person, and to pose your own questions, be sure to attend our Town Hall Meeting in September.

Town Hall Meeting

September 30, 2013

Unit 300 – 889 Harbourside, North Vancouver

6:30 – 7:30pm (open house)

7:30 – 9:00pm (presentation and Q&A)