Industries worried about Riverbend Drive West plan

By Dan Hilborn
Published June 24, 2006


Property owners in one of the most heavily industrialized corners of the city are preparing to speak up against a city rezoning plan that could dramatically change the allowed uses of their land.

Mike Kask, operations manager of Burnco Rock Products, said the Riverbend Drive West plan could jeopardize a proposed $15-million concrete ready-mix on their waterfront property.

According to a report presented to city council on May 29, the city-initiated rezoning to a comprehensive development bylaw will make it more difficult to build on the land and could ultimately prohibit some of the historic uses of the property.

The bylaw covers a 38.3- hectare parcel of land in the southeast corner of the Big Bend district, which is currently home to the Montenay incinerator and steam power generating facility, the Norampac paper mill and related businesses, the Wigg Holdings roofing and warehousing operation and the Burnco lands.

Officials from Norampac and Burnco have both sent letters to city hall informing them of their opposition to the rezoning and their intention to speak up at a public hearing at Burnaby City Hall on Tuesday night.

"Our concern is that a rezoning of this land will unnecessarily add to the complexity for us to follow through with those plans, of which Burnaby council have approved the initial stages," said Scott Burns, president and owner of Burnco, in a press release.

And in a Wednesday morning interview conducted on Burnco's 7.7- hectare property, Kask said his company is perplexed by the city's decision to unilaterally change the zoning. "Burnco met with the city prior to purchasing this land and the city had agreed to our future plans," Kask said.

"To date, we've had a great relationship with Burnaby, but this brings an uncertainty for us. With the CD zoning, we're concerned we may not be able to follow through with our plan."

The Burnco property, sandwiched between the Schenker logistics terminals and Fraser Foreshore Park, has been owned by the Burns family of Calgary for the past four generations and is currently home to a two-year-old concrete ready-mix facility and an 80,000- square-foot warehouse which is leased to a rail-to-truck transshipment company.

One of the key aspects of the city rezoning proposal is confirmation of of the city's intention to provide "public access and enjoyment" to a 740-metre (2,482-foot) portion of the Fraser River foreshore.

Kask said Burnaby is not opposed to the city's plan to allow public access to the company's waterfront property, as long as Burnco retains the ability to unload barge shipments of aggregate on the site. He believes both proposals can move forward under the existing M3 heavy industrial district zoning bylaw.

In fact, Kask said the construction of the new ready-mix plant will bring positive environmental benefits to the city, simply by virtue of its central location, which will help cut down on the number of truck trips needed to deliver Burnco's concrete products to customers on the north side of the Fraser River.

The city rezoning bylaw could also cancel out the development application that the company has already submitted to the city planning department, at a cost in the "tens of thousands" of dollars.

Kask said the Burns family has owned the land for 92 years, and is serious about its responsibilities to the community and environment. "We're a solid corporate citizen focused on environmental sensitivity," he said.

If the company's redevelopment plan is approved, the new concrete plant could see Burnco more than double in size from its current capacity of 30 employees to at least 50 and possibly as many as 100 workers in the future.

"We'll be able to create a great amount of employment, and there will be no environmental concerns," Kask said.

The city's concerns are spelled out in the rezoning proposal, which was introduced to council on May 29 and given first reading on June 12. The report states, in part: "Staff would generally not be supportive of a 'business as usual' approach to development of the property for heavy industrial uses that relied on outside processing and storage of materials."

The city staff report also acknowledges that the bylaw will restrict the "nature, scale and extent" of future heavy industrial uses, while encouraging the development of "higher quality" amenities that contribute to he strength and diversity of the city's tax and employment base.