Forest Lawn Memorial Park and the City of Burnaby have agreed all of the cemetery's truck traffic will use the main entrance, after a delegation appeared before city council March 11, and council chambers were packed with Burnaby South residents in opposition to other entrances being used.
More than 50 residents showed up to inform council they opposed large construction trucks utilizing the south gate entrance to the cemetery, which is in a quiet residential neighbourhood along Moscrop Street.
The residents were concerned over an agreement proposed at a meeting between the city and cemetery representatives on Feb. 4, which would allow the cemetery's upcoming Phase 2 construction traffic to use the exits on Moscrop Street and Royal Oak Avenue.
A report came forward at Monday night's meeting stating that following the delegation, staff continued to work with Dignity Memorial representatives, who run Forest Lawn, and their traffic consultants to review alternative approaches to managing the construction traffic.
"The conclusion of that review, including consideration of the comments provided by the delegation, is that all construction traffic will use the cemetery's main entrance only, thereby eliminating all direct impacts to residents along Royal Oak Avenue and Moscrop Street," the department of engineering report states.
The main entrance on Royal Oak is nearest to the work site and Canada Way, which is an official truck route.
"They have to do work on-site and use traffic control to deal with the issue arising near the entrance near Canada Way, but that's the direction things will be going," said Barry Davis, the City of Burnaby's acting engineering director.
Davis said staff continued to work with the cemetery after the meeting and recognized there were issues that still needed to be resolved.
"The use of traffic control personnel on-site and on-street will be required to manage potential traffic conflicts," the report states. "Other measures, such as operating within the city's noise bylaw and providing a sediment control plan will be required, as with any other construction site."
The agreement between the city and the cemetery representatives happened in time for staff to get the report to council, Davis said.
One resident, who was one of 57 people to sign a petition asking council to enforce its truck routing bylaw was happy to hear the news.
"It's super," said Bob Switzer, who attended Monday's meeting and lives close to the cemetery. "Seriously, it really is for the kids' sake going back and forth for school, bikers, walkers and old people going up and down Moscrop Street."
