Category: In the News

The Runner

An increase in climate change-related flood risk has resulted in a $13 million investment to reinforce protections for the City of Richmond as part of its Flood Protection Management Strategy.

The island city will be reconstructing the No. 3 Road South Drainage Pump Station, quadrupling its pumping capacity, and raising a section of the dike to connect it to existing dike systems among other improvements.

Once complete, the infrastructure is expected to protect over 29,000 residents, about 50 businesses, and eight square kilometers of agricultural land, according to a B.C. government news release.

“We’re at the mouth of the river where the river meets the ocean, so we’re built on a floodplain,” says City of Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie.

“The average height of the land is about a meter above sea level. So we’re very vulnerable to flooding. Because we’re vulnerable to it, we pay a lot of attention to that.”

The federal government is providing $13 million in funding, the B.C. provincial government is contributing about $8 million, and the City of Richmond will spend about $3 million for the project. …

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Financial Post

The budgets that show a city’s plans for the upcoming fiscal year and the audited financial statements that report its results after year-end are crucial tools both for the city councillors who steward public funds and for the public that holds them accountable. But, as the C.D. Howe Institute’s latest scorecard on the transparency and accountability of Canada’s 32 largest municipalities reveals, many city budgets remain opaque. They are more likely to confuse councillors and the public than inform them. …

Happily, over the years more cities have been following PSAS in at least some of their budget presentations. In 2010, exactly none of Canada’s major municipalities showed PSAS-consistent projections anywhere in their budgets. But the C.D. Howe Institute’s 2023 report card, which covered the 32 largest municipalities, found 20 showing at least some PSAS-consistent numbers. Ideally, all cities would follow the lead of Richmond, B.C., and present an entirely PSAS-consistent budget, but it is encouraging to see the spread of presentations that make budgets more transparent and useful. …

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Richmond News

Richmond’s first Express and Go recycling station officially opened in Steveston on Wednesday.

The new facility at 13191 No. 2 Rd. is operated by Return-It, in partnership with Steveston Harbour Authority, and aims to help make recycling refundable drink containers more convenient for residents. …

Mayor Malcolm Brodie said the city is proud to support sustainable practices to make recycling easier for residents.

“The new Express (and) Go station is a great addition to our city’s recycling infrastructure, and we commend Return-It for their partnership approach,” said Brodie. …

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Cision

Return-It is pleased to announce the opening of the first ever Express & GO recycling station in Richmond. Located at 13191 #2 Road, this new facility in partnership with Steveston Harbour Authority, aims to make recycling refundable beverage containers more convenient for residents. With extended hours and a user-friendly, contactless system, the station is designed to make recycling used beverage containers easy in the Steveston area of Richmond and encourage more community participation. The expansion of the Express & GO network is the latest step in Return-It’s mission to foster a world where nothing is waste. …

Mayor Malcolm Brodie expressed enthusiasm about the new station: “Richmond is proud to support sustainable practices and make recycling easier for our residents. The new Express & GO station is a great addition to our city’s recycling infrastructure, and we commend Return-It for their partnership approach.” …

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Vancouver Sun

Even on a drizzly Friday in May, the flow of passengers getting off and on buses along TransLink’s R1 King George Boulevard RapidBus route in Surrey happens with clockwork precision.

As soon as one bus departs the Newton Exchange bus loop bound for Guildford Town Centre, another 20 or 30 riders from feeder buses line up to wait for the next one, which arrives eight to 10 minutes later. …

These aren’t easy issues for municipalities to address when they’re trying to carve out bus lanes on roads that are regularly jammed with traffic to begin with, said Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie.

Brodie’s council balked in October at TransLink’s proposal for a RapidBus service from Richmond Centre to Metrotown over concerns about how congested those streets were already. The proposed R7 bus would take riders along Bridgeport Road and across the Knight Street Bridge to 49th Avenue. …

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Penticton Herald

At the end of June, B.C. NDP Bill 44 will come into effect, abolishing single-family zoning in all municipalities with more than 5,000 residents.

City councils will be mandated to permit three to four housing units – in the form of secondary suites, laneway houses, townhomes, triplexes, and house-plexes – on residential single-family lots.

This dramatic densification will be accomplished through a significant seizure of zoning power from local communities. Towns with more than 5,000 residents will be forced to rewrite their community housing plans to follow a “policy manual” drawn up by the NDP. …

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie pointed out that replacing public hearings with automatic rezonings will mean the scrapping of traffic studies: “Are we going to assume that traffic will take care of itself?”

He also expressed worry over how municipalities would cope with the increased strain on infrastructure, water supply, and public services. …

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Richmond News

The City of Richmond is aiming for the top in a national challenge to support local sports and physical activities.

Throughout June, everyone is invited to try out more than 65 free or low-cost activities open to all ages around the city as part of the 2024 ParticipACTION Community Challenge.

The city won the title of “British Columbia’s Most Active Community” in 2022 and placed among the top 50 finalists in Canada in 2023.

The city will kick off the challenge on Sunday, June 2 with a family-friendly event at the Clement Track and Minoru Plaza at 7191 Granville Avenue.

The event will start with a warm-up walk around the track led by Mayor Malcolm Brodie, followed by an all-ages dance party on the plaza. A prize will be given to the first 100 attendees. …

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Richmond News

Dear Editor,

Re: “City council asks province for pause on densifying Steveston”

Richmond city council and particularly Mayor Malcolm Brodie have done a great job of adding new accommodation without destroying the livability, or overly taxing the infrastructure.

Our main streets have been rezoned to allow for additional density where additional density belongs.

Even culturally significant areas like Steveston have new higher density buildings without destroying its unique attraction.

The provincial government’s shotgun approach to rezoning the Lower Mainland is poorly thought out, and I urge council and the mayor to continue to fight for our right to decide where additional density should be.

Allow the local cities to decide how best to add those units without breaking their infrastructure or destroying neighbourhoods.

Bob Garnett

Richmond

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Richmond News

The City of Richmond is pushing back on Bill 44 – a provincial law requiring densification of single-family neighbourhoods – specifically in Steveston.

They are asking for an extension of the rezoning deadline of June 30 so that sewer infrastructure can be built before allowing multiplexes to be built in the historic fishing village.

The city has planned to spend about $9 million over five years to upgrade Steveston sewers that are reaching their end of life.

But the city also want time to consult with the neighbourhood before rezoning.

In a statement, read by Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie at Monday’s city council meeting, the city noted an extension would allow consultation with Steveston residents on the impact of Bill 44 on “this historic neighbourhood.”

Brodie stated there was “no stakeholder or public consultation” done by the province prior ot the bill’s adoption.

Furthermore, “there was no consideration of the impact and consequences of a ‘one size fits all’ approach for increasing housing supply on the character of distinct historical neighbourhood such as Steveston,” he added. …

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CBC News

Municipalities in British Columbia are asking for more time to comply with the province’s new zoning laws.

Introduced in November, Bill 44 requires municipalities to rezone in order to increase small-scale, multi-unit housing in B.C. The province set a June 30 deadline for local governments to change zoning rules to make it easier to build townhomes, multiplexes and laneway houses.

The cities of Richmond and Coquitlam have requested an extension ahead of the deadline, citing a need to improve infrastructure. …

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said the city is “part way” through a project to improve sanitary sewer infrastructure in the Steveston neighbourhood. He said it’s important to finish the project, which was started in 2018, before increasing density in the area.

The city also wants to consult the public about the bill’s potential effects on the historical character of Steveston, which was crowned the best neighbourhood in Metro Vancouver by CBC readers in 2020.

“In Richmond, we have a major aversion to Bill 44 and what it is going to do to our single-family neighbourhoods,” Brodie said.

“We have shown that we can handle vast amounts for density, but we don’t need to do it by allowing sixplexes in every single-family lot, in every single-family neighbourhood in the entire city.” …

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