Athletes’ security at 2010 Games puts surrounding construction on hold
Frances Bula
Sun
Olympic organizers have told False Creek land owners there will have to be a significant “no-build zone” around Vancouver’s Olympic athletes’ village to create a security envelope, which means some owners won’t be able to develop their property until after the Games are over.
And, although owners haven’t been told so, RCMP, Olympic organizers and city staff all say a major factor in deciding on the boundary is not strictly security, but the increased cost of policing if development is allowed within a certain range of the village.
News of the “no-build zone” has developers up in arms and the city scrambling to find compromises.
The 15 property owners say they have been waiting almost a decade to develop and that, although they knew there were security issues, the move to prohibit building on First Avenue facing the village has come as a shock to them.
“Not being able to build will have a significant financial impact,” said Kim Maust, the vice-president of Bastion Properties. Bastion’s property is not directly affected, but all the owners had been planning to develop in collaboration with each other. “We’ve been waiting eight years. We understand a need for security but we want to be able to build and utilize our properties.”
As well, some owners say that leaving the area around the village undeveloped isn’t going to paint a pretty picture for the millions of visitors in 2010.
“It’s terrible not to be able to showcase the city when you have 50-year-old warehouses across the street from the Olympic Village,” said Bruno Wall, whose Wall family company owns the Vancouver Playhouse warehouse on First Avenue, which was supposed to become a 200- to 250-unit development with new warehouse space and a theatre.
Coun. Jim Green is trying to help all the groups work out a compromise.
“In our opinion, if the no-go zone were moved 50 to 75 feet, our problems would be solved.”
John Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee, said the organizers have to meet the proper standard for Games’ security.
“The ultimate responsibility is to make sure we have a secured village.”
However, he acknowledged that the boundary decision is also based on finances.
“We’ve established what the standard was going to be, what the cost was going to be. You can’t have unlimited financial commitment for security. It has to be finite. We have to secure the Games properly and we have to secure it for a budget that makes sense to the broader community as well,” said Furlong, who also stressed that discussions are not over and that he will be looking for workable compromises.
RCMP spokesman Sgt. John Ward said the RCMP did not order any set boundary.
“We don’t tell anybody anything. We give advice. If building is allowed here, this is how much security is going to cost. If you build it here, this is how much it’s going to cost. We don’t make any decisions on any of that stuff.”
Brent McGregor, the city’s deputy manager, also said that the cost of security is a factor.
“If you get residential right there, you would have thousands of residents going in and out. It’s going to cost more for security and security costs come out of the public purse.”
McGregor said developers were told almost a year ago that there would be some kind of security envelope around the village. City planners actually moved the proposed site of the village further north last year and stretched the village to the east and west, in order to reduce the impact of a security envelope on the private owners.
But Maust said owners had been told, at one point, that problems had been solved and that owners along First Avenue would be able to build.
“This came as a surprise,” she said.
McGregor said he has also had a preliminary general conversation with Concord Pacific, which has vacant land on the other side of False Creek opposite the village.
“They’ve been alerted that there’s some issues about development timing.”
© The Vancouver Sun 2005
