City of North Vancouver council has nixed half of a $100 million project to improve North Shore rail and port operations. The decision leaves the fate of the remaining half of the project up in the air.
“I don’t know if I’ve been part of a more disappointing decision by a municipal government,” said Anne McMullin.
The president and general manager of the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce called the project “a vital link in the overall transportation network and infrastructure that is being built around Metro Vancouver.”
It included a rail overpass by the entrance to Neptune Bulk Terminals and the raising and realignment of Low Level Road to allow for more rail capacity.
Port Metro Vancouver (PMV) has taken the lead on the project for the initial design phase. The project was to be funded by PMV, Transport Canada, TransLink, CN (TSX: CNR; NYSE: CNI), Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (TSX:CP; NYSE: CP) and the City of North Vancouver. The city’s contribution was to have been land plus $800,000 for the Low Level Road realignment.
On June 13, North Vancouver council voted against the $57.3 million Low Level Road realignment but in favour of the $41.6 million Neptune overpass.
City of North Vancouver councillor Rod Clark said residents living above Low Level Road were “well-organized” and concerned about noise, dust, pollution and obstructed views.
However, Clark said residents for the most part supported the project but wanted more mitigation measures instituted to address their concerns.
Clark, who voted against both halves of the project, said PMV hadn’t presented sufficiently detailed plans and designs.
“Before we [North Vancouver council] give any kind of building permit, you need to have detailed plans signed off by engineers and architects,” he said. “Port Metro was trying to say to us, ‘We have all these pretty pictures and we’re giving you all these promises, so we don’t have to do the detailed design,’ and that’s not acceptable.”
PMV is assessing whether to proceed with the council-approved overpass and if the funding partners are willing to pay for the reduced project.
Peter Xotta, PMV’s vice-president of planning and development, said the entire project might be cancelled.
“[If that happens], the loss would be all of the things that we’d hoped to gain: increased capacity and operational efficiency in that area to support the continued trade growth that we anticipate of our bulk commodities in the port,” he said.
McMullin called council’s decision “shocking.”
“The benefits to the community, to the region, to the country were enormous,” she said.
North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto also voiced disappointment with council’s decision against the Low Level Road project.
“It was going to help the businesses on the port, no doubt about that.”
Mussatto added that the realignment would have extended the pedestrian and cyclist Spirit Trail and stabilized a steep embankment above Low Level Road that will now have to be fixed with taxpayer money.
As to his hopes that half the project will still proceed, the mayor said: “I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but I’m not holding my breath.”