Here’s what Maple Ridge residents had to say about the Brown Avenue 35-storey tower

At a public hearing held on Tuesday night, Maple Ridge residents had the opportunity to express their opinions on a number of proposed developments — including the controversial 35-storey tower proposal on Brown Avenue.

The Brown Avenue development would be the first of its kind in the city, nearly tripling the height of any current downtown buildings.

The 252 unit structure would include a five-storey podium below the tower. It would have an outdoor amenity area on the podium’s rooftop, and hidden parking within the podium and two levels of underground parking.

One person spoke adamantly in favour of the build, saying Maple Ridge should make “the best use” of its “service rich downtown.”

“If it gets off the ground, I think it’s really important, it signals the value of our downtown. It sits in a transit rich environment,” he said.

Most of the concerns were about the building’s infrastructure, not its height, with number of residents speaking up on its parking, multi-use path, and the city’s fire department capacity.

Only one speaker expressed distaste for the height of the building, saying they’d prefer 12 storey buildings instead.

“I could see it along the Lougheed Corridor, maybe, but to stick it in the middle of a town that’s got beautiful mountains to look at, I think that we could probably house this many units in a smaller building.”

Concerns over multi-use path and lack of bike parking

As The Ridge previously reported, the HUB cycling Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows chapter is raising concerns about the proposed multi use path and lack of bike parking in the tower.

“Brown Avenue is ground zero of our plan to densify downtown,” said Jenny Wright, a Maple resident and HUB member, at the public hearing. She added that this building alone could add 500 residents to the street.

She said that a mulit-use path in such a high traffic area would be a “recipe for conflict,” and asked council to require the developers to build all ages and abilities bike infrastructure (AAA bike infrastructure), which includes separated bike lanes.

“It is critically important to separate the various active transportation modes traveling at different speeds,” she said.

Another resident said she was concerned there are only 65 long term bike parking spaces, and requested council ask the developer to increase it to one space per unit.

Kirk Grayson, past-president of the Maple Ridge Climate Hub, also added that their group was “puzzled” to see the number of vehicle parking spots, when the city has promised to set a target to have 25 per cent of trips by walking, cycling or transit by 2030. The developer has allotted more than 276 vehicle parking spaces. 

“Rather than such a large number of parking stalls, we feel the space would be better used by increasing the number of family appropriate two-and-three bedroom units to truly match our community’s housing needs.”

Another resident said she was worried that this building would require the city to get a new fire truck and “potentially a new building to house that fire truck, and potentially you’ll have to train the firemen to deal with that.”

While no staff or council responses were given (since public hearings are for receiving public comment only), city council has been enthusiastic about pushing this project forward at previous meetings.