A Burnaby man says property values and quality of life are under threat in his neighbourhood.
Gordon Berndt addressed city council to raise concerns about the redevelopment of the Laurel Streets Works Yard.
The City of Burnaby is in the midst of replacing its main public works yard just west of Highway 1. The project’s first phase – a storage building for tools, materials, and salting trucks – is currently under construction. Construction on Phase 2 – a building that will house a vehicle repair garage, management offices, engineering operations, data centre and emergency operations centres – has yet to begin and is scheduled for completion in 2022.
Benrdt said he and his family own four properties adjacent to the works yard, directly behind where the Phase 2 building will be built. He said he’s endured the noisy, smelly and unsightly facilities over the years in exchange for beautiful views of the North Shore mountains.
But with a four-storey building about to rise between his property and the mountains, that view will be “shamefully taken away,” he said.
Berndt said he has already brought his concerns to city staff.
“I know that this may be inevitable, but my input has been ignored by staff and trivialized,” he said. “Is this a good way to treat a good neighbour of over 60 years?”
Berndt said he’s worried about fumes from the paint shop and noise from exhaust fans that will be close to his back deck.
The only tangible response from the city was to install “no idling” signs on the property, he said.
The Burnaby resident also related some of his neighbours’ concerns with the project. He said trucks coming and going from the Godwin Avenue entrance are both dangerous and a serious nuisance. He asked that the city move the entrance.
“I am asking for (you) to seriously look at my concerns and that of my neighbours so that we can once again think of the city as a good neighbour who cares,” Bendt told Burnaby’s mayor and councillors.
Mayor Mike Hurley said the city planned to meet with Berndt and his neighbours to address their concerns.
“We will do all we can to mitigate as much as we can,” he said.
