Dear Editor:
In response to the Burnaby NOW article of Feb. 5 (Heights merchants wary of booming Brentwood), the Heights Merchants Association wished to offer a response and additional context. The association was at the Jan. 27 council meeting to discuss the upcoming renewal of our BIA mandate to serve the Heights district in promoting the economic development of the Heights together with our community partners.
As the article alluded, one of the areas of work that the association has in store for us is to consider the impact of the Brentwood development on the Heights neighbourhood. While we do have concerns, we also realize that we have a lot to offer, as councillors have suggested.
The Heights is a rare gem in the Lower Mainland. The merchants know their customers by name, and are part of the community themselves. The resulting authenticity and familiarity of our Heights shopping atmosphere is something everyone feels when they come here, and something that no shopping mall, indoor or outdoor format, could ever emulate. Many locals tell us that our local merchant community is one of the reasons they decide to move to this neighbourhood and stay here.
Our neighbourhood faces particular challenges as the city, and region, have sprawled around it. We have difficulty achieving a quieter, safer and morepleasant streetscape atmosphere because the HOV lane turns our local shopping street into a freeway for commuters every weekday afternoon, right when many people run their errands on their way home from work or school.
The 1991 Hastings Street Official Community Plan (OCP) is a quarter of a century old, and the strategies and planning of it date back to the 1980s, when Burnaby was less urbanized than it is today. It was written long before the towers at Brentwood were a twinkle in anyone's eye.
As we suggested at the council meeting, the Heights Merchants Association wants a review of the 1991 OCP to consider modest adjustments that could result in long-term sustainability for our community, so that there can always be a thriving local shopping street in the middle of this treasured neighbourhood.
Isabel Kolic, executive director, Heights Merchants Association
