Idea is exciting but proposal’s scale is inappropriate for Gastown, consultants hired by the city say in report
Frances Bula
Sun
VANCOUVER – Go back to the drawing board because there are serious problems with your stadium plans, Whitecaps.
That’s the conclusion of an independent consultant team hired by Vancouver to do a preliminary technical assessment of the Whitecaps unusual proposal to build a soccer stadium over the rail yards that run between Gastown and the waterfront.
The report, which forms part of the material city staff will use to decide on what to recommend about the stadium in June, says the idea of a downtown stadium on the waterfront and close to transit is exciting.
But it goes on to say that the preliminary plans for the stadium are “inappropriate and unworkable.”
The scale of the building is out of keeping with the heritage of Gastown, there aren’t enough exits, it doesn’t help create a link between Gastown and the waterfront, and it doesn’t take into account the residential development that may be coming to the port area, says the report, which was done by a team led by the architecture firm of Hotson Bakker.
It suggests that the Whitecaps won’t be able to resolve any of those problems if it doesn’t change the proposed location, which is now on a tight six-acre parcel that lies between Seymour and Cambie.
The report also says the economic benefit is likely not as great as the Whitecaps have suggested, since any spending done by soccer fans will mostly be taken out of other downtown activities.
A second consultants’ report, on community reaction, concludes that about two-thirds of people in the region support the idea of the stadium downtown, but that both business owners and residents in the immediate vicinity have considerable doubts.
Both reports emphasize that people want to see a plan developed for the whole area, rather than just trying to decide on the stadium by itself, especially since Whitecaps owner Greg Kerfoot has bought all of the rail yard land from Canada Place to Main Street.
That has led to marked concern about what Kerfoot’s plans are for the rest of the property.
Whitecaps president John Rocha said the organization is pleased about the level of public support and he isn’t surprised to hear there are technical problems.
“We knew there were those issues right from the beginning. Any of the feedback is great because we haven’t done a design yet.
“Now we will look forward to developing a design that’s a landmark for Vancouver and integrates with Gastown.”
But opponents, which include groups that have not traditionally been allies, such as Gastown businesses and Downtown Eastside community groups, aren’t sure that a better design is going to solve the serious problems they believe are there and that the report appears to have confirmed.
If the Whitecaps’ proposal is meshed with a much larger city planning process for the whole waterfront, as the Hotson report suggests it should be, that could delay construction beyond the 2009 date the Whitecaps had been aiming for.
Councillors from all parties say they like the idea of a soccer stadium in Vancouver, but they all acknowledge there are significant problems that have to be resolved with the Whitecaps’ proposal.
© The Vancouver Sun 2006
