Offering personal dispensers a world’s first

Wendy McLellan
Province

It sounds a little crazy, but Vancouver entrepreneur Bryce Margetts imagines a world where people carry around personal oxygen dispensers to give themselves a lift or to ward off a headache.

Futuristic? Maybe. But then again, it wasn’t many years ago that buying bottled water from a pop machine was inconceivable.

“We may be a few years too early, but it will happen,” said Margetts. “We’re really trying to be what Evian is to the bottled-water market, or like Red Bull is to the drink market.”

Margetts and his three Australian partners have developed Oxia, a portable, refillable oxygen canister about the size of a small bottle of water. The idea of sucking on concentrated oxygen as a health booster has been around for several years.

But Margetts said Oxia is the world’s first personal-oxygen dispenser that can be refilled.

Currently, the company is selling most of its products to luxury hotels and high-end spas. But Margetts said he is negotiating with a national U.S. chain to push Oxia into wider distribution.

It is also sold in several countries worldwide as well as online.

After two years on the market, he said the company now has 35 employees in Canada and the U.S. and has doubled its sales this year. About 80,000 canisters are now in circulation.

“It’s not rocket science — it’s just oxygen,” said Margetts, 31, chief executive of Oxia, which has offices in Vancouver as well as Las Vegas and Australia. “We just figured out how to package it and make it refillable.

“A lot of people say there’s no benefit, or it doesn’t work, but we’ve had a great response. It helps you feel better. It doesn’t get you high, it just increases the oxygen in your blood and give you a subtle pick-me-up.”

Several NHL teams have Oxia on the player’s bench and the head trainer for the Dallas Stars has endorsed the product as an effective boost for flagging energy during the third period.

One U.S. hotel offers the canisters along with the coffee and tea served to conference delegates, and the exclusive New York department store Bergdorf Goodman has started selling Oxia in its beauty department.

Vancouver’s Pan Pacific Hotel signed up this week to offer Oxia to guests. The canisters are being placed in each room and cost $15.95 for about 35 deep breaths of 90-per-cent oxygen.

Guests leave the canister behind when they check out, or, if they like the effects, they can take the canister home for $79.95 and refill it through Oxia’s online service.

“I remember when we put bottled water in hotel rooms, people thought we were stark-raving mad,” said Steve Halliday, general manager of the Pan Pacific. “Now we’re putting oxygen in the rooms. It’s not about air quality — it’s just about feeling good, and this is a unique item we can offer our customers.”

© The Vancouver Province 2006

 

Gwen Preston
Sun

Prisoners will soon be making kitchen cabinets and bathroom counters for an affordable-housing development in Burnaby.

The 27-unit townhouse project is being built by the Vancouver office of Habitat for Humanity, an international non-profit organization committed to building affordable housing for the poor.

To Anneke Rees, executive director of Habitat for Humanity’s Vancouver office, the connection just makes sense.

“We’re always looking for partners of all kinds, whether that means the Correctional Service of Canada or private business,” Rees said.

“And we have partnerships with several other organizations that are trying to help people get back on their feet, get back into the workforce. It fits.”

The prisoners will do their work at the Mission Institute, which has a workshop where approximately 20 convicts learn how to work with wood.

Mission Institute became involved after Rees contacted CANCOR, a rehabilitation program of the Correctional Service of Canada that focuses on employment training and developing employable skills in prisoners.

Norman Gerl, acting regional director for the rehabilitation program, said he jumped right on the opportunity. “That type of work is really good for us,” he said.

“We are totally a training facility,” Gerl said. “Every guy who walks through that door has little or no skills at all. Our certified instructors provide hands-on training. It’s amazing some of the products these fellows can turn out.”

The prisoners usually build custom office furniture for government departments and the occasional private-sector contract.

“It just teaches great marketable skills,” Gerl said. “And because it’s for Habitat for Humanity, the guys think it’s extra special.”

Habitat for Humanity will provide the materials and the prisoners will donate their labour.

The correctional service and Habitat for Humanity have worked together in other Canadian locations. But when prisoners at the Mission Institute start milling cabinet doors in a few weeks, it will be the first time the two organizations have worked together in the Pacific region.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

PANELS TESTED: Test hut allows close examination of designs

Susan Lazaruk
Province

Years after B.C.’s estimated $2 billion leaky-condo crisis peaked and well into the province’s enduring housing boom, the housing industry is still trying to create a better building envelope.

“The walls do a heck of a lot more than hold the roof up,” says contractor Mark Gauvin, who has been in construction for more than three decades.

“I don’t believe that we yet really understand what goes on behind the walls of these buildings.

“A contractor is always looking for a better way to build walls.”

So through his company, Gauvin 2000 Construction, he volunteered to participate in a project designed as an outdoor lab to see how various building-envelope designs withstand the West Coast climate over several seasons.

Gauvin constructed a 900-sq.-ft. building above his two-storey office building on Austin Avenue in Coquitlam with 28 wall panels, each with a different wall construction. There are seven on each side, plus six roof panels.

The study will compare the standard, old-fashioned face-sealed stucco construction popular years ago with rainscreen technology, which includes an air space, and a newer design. The panels are used with and without polyethylene to test how the air barrier may affect the wall’s drying ability.

The test hut, built last fall and modelled after similar designs in other parts of Canada, the U.S. and Europe, is monitored by the building science department of Ontario’s University of Waterloo.

Electronic sensors collect hourly data on temperatures, moisture levels and humidity to see how the panels hold up to rain, sleet, wind, sun and snow.

In the second year of the test, they’ll introduce moisture to the panels to see how the different constructions dry, if they do leak.

“That’s one question we’re hoping to zero in on, whether polyethylene is suitable for the West Coast,” says Prof. John Straube of the University of Waterloo. “We haven’t seen much difference between poly and no-poly walls over one winter.

“We may provide evidence for one side or the other.”

The experiment will also focus on the building’s energy efficiency capabilities and will collect data on interior conditions.

Straube says the study is not going to produce the smoking gun for B.C.’s widespread leaky-condo crisis.

“It’s unfortunate that it can’t be answered because so many people want that question answered.”

Still, the data may contribute to building the “ultimate wall.”

“What I call the ultimate wall is not what the developers may think is the ultimate wall,” Straube says.

Rainscreen walls, because they are complicated to construct and require a number of layers and, therefore, a number of different tradespeople, are “very expensive,” he says.

It’s important to invest in research and development for building science, considering the housing industry is bigger than the auto, computer and airline industries put together “yet it spends a fraction” of what the other industries do on research, he says.

“The industry affects a lot of people really personally,” he says.

The University of B.C. has tested different rainscreens in the past and the B.C. Institute of Technology is launching a similar test hut this summer, Gauvin says.

Allan Dobie, senior research consultant for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., says these types of studies can eventually contribute to CMHC’s best-practices guide.

“This is the kind of thing the industry has been looking for and needing. It is long overdue,” Dobie says.

But Greg Johnson, an architect with Marceau Evans Johnson Architects who teaches building science at UBC, says these studies are “very research-oriented.”

“It’s trying to address only the technical issues but it [building science] is definitely an applied field,” he says.

“Every building has its own peculiarities and, oftentimes, failures are the result of problems during construction,” Johnson says, adding leaks are common at interfaces or in other details.

He says that no matter how good the design, it’s only as good as the construction, and during busy building times, quality can be affected by a shortage of skilled labour.

Johnson says he wouldn’t be surprised if B.C. has “some other issues” with buildings, even if they don’t result in full-scale envelope failure.

“There are downsides to building booms,” he says. “I’m hoping that won’t be the case this time, but what I’m seeing, it probably is, so prepare yourself.”

COSTLY CRISIS

Number of income-tested reconstruction loans approved by B.C.’s

Homeowner Protection Office: 15,000.

Value of total loans approved: $576 million

Average cost of repairs per unit: $32,000

Estimated total cost of repairs: $1 billion.

Estimated cost of the leaky condo crisis: $2 billion.

Sources: HPO, Concordia University.

© The Vancouver Province 2006

Airlines are stricter about the weight and size of bags

Judy Wiley
Province

Heavy, impressive-looking luggage is officially over. The airlines have made it so with new, stricter weight regulations that have travellers groaning.

Of course, the lighter your luggage, the more stuff you can lug along. And we discovered that cheaper bags are lighter — though they won’t necessarily last as long.

PACKING TIPS

Choosing the lightest suitcase doesn’t matter much if you insist on taking along too much stuff. These ideas will help you pack lighter, no matter what style traveller you are.

For everyone:

– Wear your heaviest clothes, such as jackets and coats.

– Call your hotel and ask whether such items as blow-dryers, irons and robes are provided. No need to pack them if so.

– Check the weather and make a list. Then pile everything on the bed and edit. If you pack straight into the suitcase, you’re more likely to add extra items.

– Downsize toiletries. Buy travel-size versions or empty plastic bottles. It makes a huge difference.

– According to Melissa Klurman at Fodor’s, a good rule of thumb for travelling less than one week is one shirt per day, one layering jacket or sweater, one bottom per every two days (but never less than two pairs of pants), no more than two pairs of shoes, underwear for every day and seasonal additions, such as a bathing suit.

Klurman says for more than a week, you should take the same number of items and plan to wash. If the exchange rate is good, use a laundry service. Otherwise, bring Woolite and a travel stain-treatment stick (Tide to Go is the best, Klurman says).

(Sources: Melissa Klurman at www.fodors.com and Chris Culwell at Fodor’s)

For the fashionista

(or fashionisto):

– “Choose a central colour to pack around,” says Chris Culwell at Fodor’s. Try a neutral such as brown, navy, black or tan, then choose accessories to change the look — “so you’re not bringing things like purple pants and a green tank top,” Culwell says.

– If you’re not going to wear it more than three times, don’t bring it, urges Rick Steves’ website, www.ricksteves.com. Let sandals double as slippers and a scarf double as a wrap.

– If we know you, you’ll want to shop before you go. At www.exofficio.com you’ll find good-looking techie anti-wrinkle dry-wicking stuff, including one line with built-in insect repellent; www.travelsmith.com is an old reliable, better-suited to the over-40 traveller; ww.tilley.com likewise; and www.rei.com has some of the cuter stuff online.

– Silk, microfibre or stretch-lace underwear dries faster than cotton.

– Leave your expensive jewelry at home. It’s not worth losing it.

(Sources: www.fodors.com, www.ricksteves.com)

For the business traveller:

– Pack a business suit in a dry-cleaner bag. Less friction means less wrinkling.

– Use zip-top bags for lots of things: liquids, dirty shoes — anything you want to keep away from items you can’t wash or spot-clean.

– Put socks inside shoes to save space.

– Line the bottom of your suitcase with pants and let the legs hang over the outside edge, say the experts at Travel+Leisure. Then pack the rest — with lighter items on top. Wrap pants legs over all, and they’ll keep their crease.

– Hang wrinkled items in the bathroom while you shower to help get rid of wrinkles.

© The Vancouver Province 2006

 

Other

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Bridge will make $3.6 billion in ‘user benefits’ over its 35-year building, operating period: report

William Boei
Sun

The $800-million Golden Ears Bridge will cost TransLink more than $1.1 billion by the time it is paid off in 2041.

However, the report concedes the bridge is a good deal because TransLink will collect more in tolls during the life of its 35-year contract than it pays the private operator.

TransLink staff calculated that as a public-private partnership, or P3, the project has a razor-thin financial advantage over a completely public project, and project director Fred Cummings said Wednesday that’s a conservative estimate.

NDP transportation critic David Chudnovsky was skeptical, saying that governments can always borrow money more cheaply than the private sector and that makes P3s more expensive.

The report says the bridge will generate $3.6 billion in “user benefits” over its 35-year construction and operating period.

The toll bridge, being built east of Barnston Island, will connect Surrey and Langley on the south side of the Fraser River to Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge in the north. It is expected to spur development on both sides, cut driving times across the river and help ease the load on the congested Port Mann Bridge.

It is scheduled to open by the end of June 2009.

TransLink will collect the tolls on the bridge and make monthly payments to the operator to cover capital costs, interest, operating expenses and maintenance. The payments kick in when the bridge opens and will continue for 32 years.

TransLink will pay $1.126 billion over the life of the contract, the report says, but it will collect $1.229 billion, most of it in tolls and the rest from about $50 million a year it now pays to subsidize the Albion Ferry, which will be closed when the bridge opens.

“In . . . value terms, projected revenues exceed the costs by $103.3 million,” the report says.

Without the subsidy from TransLink — $160 million over 32 years — costs would exceed revenue by about $57 million.

Staff calculated that if TransLink built the bridge as a public project, revenue would exceed costs by between $92.6 million and $97 million, depending on the timing of the project.

Cummings said that probably understates the P3 advantage because construction inflation for a public project was estimated at six per cent a year, and actual construction costs will likely increase faster than that.

With a P3, the report says, TransLink is insulated from B.C.’s “overheated construction market” because the contract makes the operator responsible for construction costs.

“The value of obtaining a fixed-price, cost-certain contract in this market cannot be overstated,” the report says.

TransLink is directly financing $216 million in project costs such as property acquisition, planning and municipal road improvements. That is partly offset by a $50-million “licensing fee” paid by the contractor.

The rest is being financed by the operator through insurance companies, and the report says that arrangement has earned the project a triple-A credit rating, while as a stand-alone project it would be rated BBB. That resulted in attractive borrowing terms, it says.

But Chudnovsky insisted governments can always borrow more cheaply than private companies.

“Governments get those loans at the best possible rate, and when you talk about 800 million or a billion dollars, a difference of one or two per cent is tens of millions of dollars, which taxpayers have to pay,” he said.

“I continue to be skeptical about that.”

The private contractor is the Golden Crossing General Partnership, led by a Canadian subsidiary of the Bilfinger Berger Group, a German company that builds and operates major projects around the world.

Chudnovsky warned that the project could run into problems with toll rates. He said Toronto thought it had iron-clad guarantees that tolls on its privately operated Highway 407 would not increase, but the operator went to court and won a ruling that “it is the private procurer and not the government which controls the level of the tolls, no matter what was promised at the time of the deal.”

TransLink’s monthly payments will be ramped up from $500,000 per month when the bridge opens to nearly $4.8 million a month after July 2015. The low early payments allow time for traffic — and toll revenue — to generate.

Chudnovsky said that opens a possible conflict between the operator and public interest, because the more cars that use the bridge, the higher the revenue will be.

“The private procurer wants lots of cars to go across the bridge,” Chudnovsky said. “We as citizens probably want fewer and fewer cars to go across the bridge because the cars create pollution, global warming, congestion, all kinds of stuff.

“So there is a tension between public policy goals and the private goals of the company.”

The TransLink report says the bridge will see more than 20 million vehicle crossings per year by 2012. It says travel distances for bridge users will be reduced by an average of 12 kilometres, and trip times by 20 to 30 minutes.

Staff valued travel time savings over the term of the contract at $1.6 billion, vehicle operating cost savings at $1.4 billion and safety benefits at $600,000 for total user benefits of $3.6 billion.

The report predicts that by 2021, the bridge will “induce” the establishment of 735 new businesses on both sides of the river, construction of more than 7,000 new housing units, population increases of nearly 22,000, significantly more commercial floor space and property tax revenue hikes of more than $20 million.

THE INFLATION FACTOR

Because of inflation, the tolls drivers will pay for crossing the Golden Ears Bridge are already slated to increase, even before it opens.

TransLink set the toll for automobiles at $2.50 per crossing, double that amount for small trucks, triple for large trucks and half for motorcycles.

By the time the bridge opens in 2009, TransLink expects the tolls to be:

Automobiles: $2.85

Small trucks: $5.70

Large trucks: $8.55

Motorcycles: $1.43

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

With GeoWeb, disaster relief workers could see the location of electicity lines or water pipes

Peter Wilson
Sun

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Divided board approves bridge twinning, roadwork

Andy Ivens
Province

The cities of Vancouver and Burnaby oppose it, but Greater Vancouver yesterday gave the green light to the Gateway Project proposed by the province to relieve traffic congestion on Highway 1.

A fractious TransLink board meeting yesterday produced an 8-4 verdict in favour of the $3-billion plan to twin the Port Mann Bridge, widen the freeway from Vancouver to Langley and build the North and South Fraser perimeter roads.

A condition attached to TransLink’s approval was that tolls be placed on the Port Mann Bridge to fund the project, manage traffic volumes and promote efficiency.

Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan was outspoken in his criticism of the plan to widen the highway and twin the Port Mann Bridge, which he said would inundate his city with traffic to and from other regions.

“We cannot accept one more car,” Corrigan said. “This is fundamentally a wrong decision.”

He called it “a complete U-turn on what we’ve been doing with the Livable Region Strategic Plan. It was a trip back to the ’50s — that building more highways will solve your problem.”

Corrigan predicted the two more lanes of highway slated for Burnaby would be congested in five years.

Surrey Coun. Marvin Hunt said adding three lanes to the Port Mann crossing — increasing it to eight lanes from five — will speed up the flow of goods and reduce pollution from the thousands of cars crawling through the notorious bottleneck.

One feature of growth in the suburbs has been the increase in north-south traffic over the Port Mann, he noted.

“One-third of traffic entering [Highway 1] in Surrey exits in Coquitlam,” said Hunt.

The TransLink staff recommendation that the two perimeter roads be built before twinning the Port Mann and widening B.C.’s busiest highway was also passed by the board.

The North Fraser Perimeter Road would run from Maple Ridge, over a new Pitt River Bridge, through the New Westminster waterfront to Queensborough Bridge.

The South Fraser Perimeter Road would connect Deltaport to the new Golden Ears Bridge at 200th Street in Langley by skirting the southern shore of the Fraser River.

Corrigan was joined by Vancouver’s three TransLink board members — Mayor Sam Sullivan, Coun. Peter Ladner and Coun. Suzanne Anton — in opposition.

“I agree with Mr. Corrigan,” said Anton. “There are alternatives, and we should delay the planning of this bridge.”

Anton noted Vancouverites walk more than they used to, and the city’s opposition to freeways, dating back 30 years, has made it more livable.

“Adding roads, traffic and this great big bridge is the wrong way to go,” she said.

Corrigan listed alternatives to increasing the bridge and highway capacity — extend SkyTrain to Guildford; use waterways and existing rail corridors to move goods and services.

“Goods and services have to move at night,” he said.

“When they must move [by] day, they should use the [high-occupancy vehicle] lanes in non-peak hours.”

© The Vancouver Province 2006

 

Council had a chance to scrap the plan, but instead decided to make it a priority.

Peter Severinson
Province

Vancouver city council voted unanimously yesterday to keep working with the Vancouver Whitecaps on a plan to build a downtown soccer stadium on the city’s waterfront.

Council had a chance to scrap the plan yesterday, but instead decided to make it a priority for the city even though many fear that building a stadium on a platform above the rail yard north of Gastown will be impossible.

Council debated the issue for almost four hours, rejecting a proposal to do an extended study of the waterfront before considering the stadium proposal.

“We don’t have planning in place for these lands,” said Coun. Raymond Louie, who brought forward the proposal. “We should not be rushed to make a decision when someone comes to us with what seems like a gift.”

Louie also proposed the city start looking for other possible stadium sites in case the current one fails.

Council voted not to start looking for other sites right away and see what kind of progress the Whitecaps can make on the waterfront site.

Coun. Heather Deal said she was disappointed by the decision not to look for other sites, saying the soccer club should have a back-up plan.

“Success is not a guarantee,” she said. “We have a lot of potential points where this plan will not succeed.”

More than 80 people spoke out on the plan in several days of public hearings, with about half supporting and half opposing it.

Coun. Tim Stevenson said voting on the project was one of the hardest decisions he’s ever had to make as a councillor.

“I’ve almost changed my mind every day,” he said.

Stevenson said he seriously doubts the Whitecaps will be able to overcome the huge challenges to building on the site — but they should get the chance to try.

Bob Lenarduzzi, the Whitecaps’ director of soccer operations, said he was pleased with the decision, although admitting there still a lot of work to be done.

“The public demonstrated their interest in the project and the council endorsed that interest unanimously,” he said. “All of the issues that need to be resolved can be resolved.”

Lenarduzzi said the Whitecaps have no plans to build the stadium anywhere else if the waterfront site doesn’t work.

Opponents of the plan said they weren’t surprised by council’s decision, but still feel the stadium won’t be built because of the tough obstacles, said Jon Stovell, spokesman for the Gastown Neighbourhood Coalition.

“We wished [council] had exercised more caution because we don’t believe the Whitecaps can solve these problems,” he said.

Stovell said building a stadium goes against the city’s work to make Gastown a comfortable residential and shopping neighbourhood.

© The Vancouver Province 2006

 

Darah Hansen and Heather Travis
Sun

The Whitecaps were still in the game Tuesday with a proposal to build a $65-million waterfront soccer stadium in Gastown after winning unanimous — though heavily conditional — support for the concept from Vancouver city councillors.

Council’s decision came after four nights of public meetings on the proposal, with more than 100 speakers stepping up to give their opinions for and against.

On Tuesday, council agreed that concerns voiced at those meetings — including road access around the stadium and the impact of noise and crowds on neighbouring residents and businesses — must be adequately addressed before the proposal could move forward in the rezoning and permit process.

To ensure this happens, stadium proponents have been directed to conduct a one-year formal study of the issues outlined. The rezoning process would add another year to that.

Stadium proponents must also resolve potential risk and liability issues associated with dangerous goods being transported in the CPR rail yard, over which the 15,000-seat facility would be constructed. They must also reconfigure the stadium’s design to ensure a better fit with its surrounding heritage neighbourhood between Granville Square and the foot of Cambie Street in downtown Vancouver.

Resolving all the identified concerns could delay the start of the project by two years or more.

Still, Bob Lenarduzzi, Whitecaps director of soccer operations, said his organization was “delighted” with Tuesday’s outcome.

“The public demonstrated their interest in the project and council endorsed that interest unanimously, and, so, we’re looking forward to moving ahead with the project and addressing the requirements that the staff had put forward to council,” he said in an interview outside council chambers.

Lenarduzzi said he’s optimistic the fundamental issues facing the proposal can be resolved within 24 months, and he played down opposition to the stadium by some residents and merchants in Gastown and the Downtown Eastside. Many said their neighbourhood was already too fragile because of surrounding poverty and open drug use to support the noise and rowdy crowds associated with a major sports facility.

“I think what is important to note is that the city, the Whitecaps, and the Port [Authority] — all the main stakeholders — all agree to resolve them . . . and that’s a pretty good starting point,” Lenarduzzi said.

Coun. Suzanne Anton said the city will make sure residents’ concerns are not overlooked.

“We’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen,” she said in an interview. “It’s very important for the Whitecaps to work with the residents to make sure that does not happen.”

But some Gastown residents said they aren’t comforted by council’s promises.

“I’m just devastated by this decision,” said Wendy Pedersen, whose home at the Four Sisters Co-op would overlook the new stadium.

“We already have bad things happening in our neighbourhood and it [the stadium] is going to bring more,” she said.

Neighbour Caryn Duncan was also disappointed with Tuesday’s outcome, but vowed to keep up the fight to find an alternate location for the project.

“We are not going away. We are in it for the long haul,” she said, referring to support from members of the loosely knit citizens group, called the Central Waterfront Coalition, of which both she and Pedersen are members.

“The Downtown Eastside and Gastown is our neighbourhood and we are not going away. We are not visitors … We’ve lived here for years and we do not support the stadium,” Duncan said.

Council had no answers Tuesday on how much money — if any — the approval process for the project will cost city taxpayers. A staff report outlining what it will take to expedite the project as a planning priority is expected back before council in September. The report will address issues of staff time, and just who will pay for it, Anton said.

Staff has also been asked to report to council on a quarterly basis on the proposal’s progress over the next two years.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Coun. Raymond Louie suggested council spend the next six months studying alternative locations for the proposed stadium, in case the waterfront location proved unworkable. He also called for an expanded study of the entire waterfront area, with future planning in mind should the railway tracks be relocated.

Louie argued the city has no planning in place for the land, and councillors “should not be rushed to make hasty decisions when somebody comes before us with a seeming gift,” he said, in reference to the privately funded stadium proposal.

“This is not about soccer for me. This is about land use,” he said.

But Louie’s ideas were shot down by the majority of councillors, who felt they would distract the city’s focus from the current proposal and cause even further delays.

“I think we have to keep moving, and not use planning as a means to stop this,” said Coun. Peter Ladner.

Ladner said Tuesday’s decision does not necessarily mean the project would go ahead.

“There is still a lot to be taken into consideration,” he said, adding he felt council should make an “extra effort” to see the proposal work, calling it a “huge social contribution” to Vancouver.

“We aren’t paying a penny for this stadium,” he said, adding Toronto is putting up $10 million for a similar structure.

The proposed Whitecaps stadium would span more than seven hectares of rail lands east of the Waterfront Seabus terminal in the Gastown area. The cost of the project is estimated at $65 million, including land purchasing costs of about $17 million.

After the two-year study and rezoning process is complete, council will decide whether to allow building to proceed.

“If we want this stadium in Vancouver, we need a way for these subjective issues to be addressed,” said Coun. Kim Capri.

STADIUM TIMELINE

For more than three years, Vancouver has been kicking around plans to build a $65-million waterfront soccer stadium in Gastown. The process is far from over.

January 2003 — Former Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell approaches the Whitecaps about building a downtown stadium.

July 2004 — The city decides against using Main Street and Terminal Avenue for a stadium site.

December 2004 — The Whitecaps make a formal inquiry to the city planning department about a waterfront site, north of Gastown.

July 2005 — Whitecaps purchase land at a waterfront site.

October 20, 2005 — City council approves a high-level review of the proposed stadium to determine the level of public support and technical issues of concern.

May 2006 — City staff complete high-level review.

July 11, 2006 — The proposed stadium concept wins unanimous — though heavily conditional — support from Vancouver city council.

September 2006 — Survey of Gastown neighbourhood and businesses to begin.

September 2007 — Rezoning application and stadium design process to begin.

2009 — Under the former Vancouver city timeline, construction was to be completed.

Sources: www.whitecapsnewstadium.com, Bob Lenarduzzi, director of soccer operations for the Whitecaps

© The Vancouver Sun 2006