The giant project proposed in Senakw development in Vancouver
A road through Vanier Park? Kits Point resident says people signing up to protest proposal
John Mackie
The Vancouver Sun
Jeremy Braude in front of a sign for the proposed Senakw development beside the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver, which is projected to house 9,000 people. Photo by Francis Georgian /PNG
Looking through the website for the Senakw development beside the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver, Jeremy Braude noticed something unusual.
In an illustration of the giant project, which is projected to house 9,000 people, there is a road on the north side of the development.
The catch is, the road seems to be in Vanier Park.
Alarmed, Braude decided to inform the public. He made up pamphlets and signs that read “No Vanier Park Road,” and dropped them off around the nearby Kitsilano Point neighbourhood.
He also put together a website that shows where he thinks the road will go, in red, through a grassy area of Vanier Park.
“The signs are very effective,” he said. “I’m getting a lot of people who scanned the QR code on the signs, which takes them to my website, and they sign up for protests regularly. I’m getting five to 10 people every day, people who have just walked by.”
Braude said 141 people have signed on for the protest so far, in only a few weeks. But he said the city hasn’t been forthcoming about what is happening.
“We had a Zoom talk with the city, and I asked them, ‘Is the road a fait accompli?’” he said. “And they said, ‘No it’s not, it’s under negotiation, but we can’t say anything about it. It’s in camera, all the discussions.’”
Senakw is being developed by the Squamish First Nation in concert with Westbank, one of Vancouver’s biggest developers.
It is located on four hectares of land that was expropriated from what was once the Kitsilano Indian Reserve for railway land in 1906. The Squamish sued for the return of the land in 1986, and a court awarded them Senakw in 2000.
Because it is reserve land, the City of Vancouver has said it has no jurisdiction to regulate the development. So the Senakw plan is very dense, with 12 towers up to 59 stories high on either side of the Burrard Bridge.
Squamish First Nation councillor Khelsilem said he couldn’t comment on the proposed road. The Vancouver Park Board said in a message that it “leases this area of the park from the federal government. As such, the ultimate approver for the right to construct the proposed road is the federal government.”
A photo-illustration of where Kits Point resident James Braude thinks a road might go in what is now Vanier Park.
According to the website areavibes.com, there are 1,641 people in Kits Point, which means Senakw could potentially have 5.5 times its population. Braude said Kits Point residents are worried about increased traffic, but the big issue is “being ignored by the city.”
“It’s a bit insulting when you have a huge development, (almost) 10,000 people, and you don’t consult the neighbours as to what’s going on,” he said. “You do it in secret, no transparency. It’s just not nice, you know?”
That said, the part of Vanier Park where the road would be located is rarely, if ever, used because it is a big open field and park users tend to head for the waterfront.
“Yes, it is the most under-utilized part of the park, but it’s overall a very utilized park,” said Braude. “There’s a lovely pathway there where brand-new trees have been planted, a sort of gravel path, and there’s plenty of people who use it on a daily basis — cyclists, visitors.
“But (the issue is) the incursion of a roadway through a park when it’s actually not necessary … the boundaries of the actual development abut Chestnut Street, which gives them access to their development. So an extra road just allows for a maximum densification of the site.”
Senakw was the Squamish name for a long-time First Nations settlement that became the Kitsilano Indian Reserve in 1868. The reserve was expanded to 80 acres in 1877.
It was more or less on the site of today’s Vanier Park, although it stretched as far south as First Avenue, which means it included the approaches to the Burrard Bridge, the former Molson’s Brewery, and Seaforth Armoury.
After Vancouver was established in 1886, however, the reserve was coveted by various interests. A scandal erupted in 1913 when the provincial government announced it had purchased the reserve from 20 males of the Squamish nation who lived on the site, for $225,000.
The deal was so controversial the federal government wouldn’t let the province take over the land. But Ottawa didn’t give the land back to the Squamish, buying it from the province in 1928 for $350,000.
It was used as a military base during the Second World War, and in 1947 the federal government gave the Squamish an additional $250,000 for the land. Ottawa also finally gave the province the $350,000 it had agreed to but never paid in 1928. The federal government leased the land for Vanier Park to the city in 1967.
In 1977, the Squamish Nation launched a suit to get back some of the land it had lost, and in 2000 the federal government gave the First Nation $92.5 million for the loss of the Kitsilano Reserve and parts of North Vancouver and the town of Squamish.
The plan for the Senakw development in Kitsilano calls for a road at the top of the site, beside or perhaps in Vanier Park. Illustration from the Senakw website. The road would be located north of Parkview Towers, the Y shaped building at 1450 Chestnut.
A front page Vancouver Sun story about the sale of the Kitsilano Reserve on the March 13, 1913 alleged “trickery” was used by the provincial government to buy the 77 acre parcel for a fraction of its true value.
Story in the March 5, 1947 Vancouver Sun on the federal government’s purchase of the Kitsilano Indian Reserve. The feds gave $350,000 to the province, which they had agreed to in 1928 but never handed over. It also gave $250,000 to the Squamish First Nation “for the rights they claim still to have in the reserve.” Most of rthe 77 acre parcel is now Vanier Park.
Sign in Kitsilano Point opposing a proposed road along the edge of Vanier Park. PNG
A closeup from a Tourist Guide Map of Vancouver City and Park, 1898, showing the location of the Kitsilano Indian Reserve. Note there is no Burrard Bridge (which wasn’t built until 1932), and that Burrard was called Cedar south of False Creek. Granville street south of False Creek was known as Centre Street, and Cambie was Bridge Street. The map was compiled by Garden, Herman and Burwell, Engineers and Surveyors, and published by Thomson stationary. Vancouver Archives AM1594-: MAP 35. Photo by Herman and Burwell Engineers and /PNG
The western end of the Senakw development ends at Creelman Street. Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG
A sign for the Senakw development in Kitsilano Point in Vancouver. The building in the background is Parkview Towers at 1450 Creelman Street, the last building before the Burrard Bridge on the south side of False Creek. Senakw will be on both sides of the bridge; on the this, the Vanier Park (north) side, the Senakw land is currently trees. Photo by John Mackie /PNG
Immediately north of the Senawk project is a big empty field that is part of Vanier Park. The field is rarely used. A proposed road to Senawk might be located along the southern tip of the field. PNG
The proposed road along the edge of Vanier Park might be located about here, beside the row of trees that have been recently planted. PNG
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