A handful of ambitious new facilities may soon be popping up in Burnaby, following council’s approval of amendments to the city’s community benefit bonus policy.
On Monday, council made some changes to the policy, such as expanding the areas for location of amenities, prioritizing projects and pooling funds gathered from each of the town centres to be spent in all of the city’s quadrants.
Furthermore, a presentation to council listed a half-dozen proposed projects, including a performance and events centre in Metrotown, a new community centre in Brentwood, a public space along Willingdon between Brentwood and Burnaby Heights, a new Edmonds arena, and replacement of the Cameron Recreation Centre and library.
“I think that the linear public park connection is one that does show a different way of thinking about planning a city,” said Mayor Derek Corrigan, noting that walking facilities are among the most well-received projects by citizens. “We’ve acquired land for road and now we’re looking at converting that land to a, in essence, another urban trail.”
To date, the city’s amenity bonus fund has brought in $154 million for community benefits, and Coun. Colleen Jordan noted the program is expected to generate another $30 million per year. However, she noted that the money is meant solely for amenities and is separate from the city’s capital reserves.
“This is not to take the place of our regular capital program, it’s not to take the place of fixing aging infrastructure – this is to add additional amenities in exchange for the additional density that is coming to our city,” she said.
Coun. Anne Kang praised staff for its proposed investments in the Cameron Library, while Coun. Dan Johnston expressed excitement for the performance centre in Metrotown.
“The one thing that Metrotown’s been slow to have over the past few years is event space that citizens can come to and be part of a community,” he said, suggesting that a musician of the calibre of Gordon Lightfoot could perform there.
Before voting on the matter, Corrigan reiterated Coun. Jordan’s comments regarding the separation of the capital reserves and bonus fund, and addressed the size of the city’s capital reserves, maintaining that Burnaby is “one of the fiscally most responsible cities.”
“It’s like, you get a new roof put on your house and then you begin saving for the next roof that you will have to buy,” he said. “That’s what we’ve done over the course of many, many years.
“We’re going to have to replace the things that we build, and good public policy is to make sure that we save the money to be able to do that in the future so that some future generation isn’t going to have to go out and borrow.”
