How Collingwood Neighbourhood House moved from Kingsway to Joyce Street

To commemorate the 20-year anniversary of the Renfrew-Collingwood Community News, we’re revisiting past stories that have particularly inspired us. This article was first published in the Fall-Winter 1994 issue of the Collingwood Collage, a predecessor to the RCC News.
My favourite memory from the RCC News is writing the story about the Collingwood Neighbourhood House moving from Kingsway to Joyce. The story showed the growth of CNH and our work with Julie Cheng (editor) and others on the Communications Committee.
− Jeff Mazo

Times are changing again. What had been an ongoing process for the last few years finally came down to a two-hour city council meeting on June 24, 1994.

After many community consultations and endless meetings, the Vancouver Land Corporation (VLC) project along Joyce and Vanness was finally approved. As a result, Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) will be moving (in the next few years) to a larger and permanent building at Joyce and Euclid.

All those concerned with the project were invited to the council meeting to voice their opinions. Only a handful of people spoke before council. They included David Podmore (VLC president), Chris Taulu (Joyce St. Area Planning Committee), Rob Burkhart (CNH president), Ken Greene (Collingwood businessman) and various residents of the area.

Like the previous public consultation meetings, there were models and sketches of the proposed development on display. There were also many questions and concerns still being raised about the development. These concerns included the increase of traffic, the effect of shadows from tall buildings, and the increase of the population density. Some speakers also saw problems with the unit sizes proposed for housing and the effects that the development could have on the neighbouring City of Burnaby.

Ultimately, there were only nine speakers and their positions were as follows: six for the development and three against it.

The council members’ vote was unanimous, but the individual councillors’ opinions of the project varied. For instance, Councillor Libby Davies voted for the development, but with reservations. She said there were some “skepticism and concern(s)” about the development such as increased population density.

She also suggested that since the entire project is to be built in phases, the community should use the pause between the phases to look carefully at the project again. If the community does not like what it sees, they can go back to city council.

On the other hand, Councillor Gordon Price voted for the project without reservations, but was surprised that there was little opposition to such a massive development.

Mayor Gordon Campbell praised the consultation process within Collingwood and said it should be a model for other community developments.

If all goes according to plans, VLC will break ground by spring of 1994, and Phase I, with the new neighbourhood house, will be completed in 1995.

Copyright 2018 Renfrew-Collingwood Community News