Renfrew-Collingwood Community News

News stories from the Renfrew-Collingwood community in East Vancouver

Tag Archives: 29th Avenue Skytrain station


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City plans housing for homeless residents at 4410 Kaslo

TMH-4410-Kaslo

The paths around the current garden at 4410 Kaslo are heavily used by commuters as a thoroughfare to the 29th Avenue SkyTrain station and bus loop. Photos by Julie Cheng

Community garden near the 29th Avenue SkyTrain station slated to become Vancouver’s latest site for temporary modular housing

BY JULIE CHENG

Dec. 13, 2017, local residents packed the First Hungarian Presbyterian Church in the first of two information sessions to find out more about the temporary modular housing that the City of Vancouver has planned for 4410 Kaslo Street.

Currently a community garden, 4410 Kaslo is located across from the 29th Avenue SkyTrain station and Slocan Park. One three-storey building with 50 units is being considered there as housing for people experiencing homelessness.

Kaslo is the city’s fourth site planned for such housing, following sites in the Marpole neighbourhood and on Franklin and Powell streets in the Downtown Eastside.

Together the four sites make up roughly 200 out of the 600 new units of temporary modular housing that the city aims to place across Vancouver. The city is working on six to seven more sites, according to Abi Bond, director of affordable housing community services.

TMH-community-info-session-2017-12-13

Jennifer Gray-Grant of the Collingwood Neighbourhood House and Chris Taulu of Collingwood Community Policing Centre were among the many community members who attended the 4410 Kaslo information sessions.

Vancouver’s first temporary modular housing at 220 Terminal Avenue opened in February 2017 and has been a “big success,” says Luke Harrison, CEO of the Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency. “It’s operating beautifully. There’s been no increase in crime. The residents have been good neighbours.”

Staff from Atira Women’s Resources Society will manage the Kaslo site and will connect its residents to support services such as health services.

Development permit timeline

December 13 and 14, 2017: Community information session to present project and gather feedback.

December 22, 2017: Public can provide input until December 22 via email (housing@vancouver.ca) or at the community information sessions.

January 2018: Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency applies for a development permit to build temporary modular housing at 4410 Kaslo Street.

January to February 2018: City and community partners hold another community information session to present the project and listen to feedback. Public has the opportunity to provide input for one week after the community information session via email (housing@vancouver.ca) or at the community information session.

February 2018: The city’s director of planning determines whether a development permit will be issued.

Spring 2018: Once approved, it takes about three months for construction to be completed.

For more information visit Vancouver.ca/temporarymodularhousing.

Current City of Vancouver temporary modular housing projects

Franklin Street – 39 units on a 18,913 square-foot lot

Powell Street – 39 units on a 21,203 square-foot lot

Marpole – 2 buildings of 39 units; total 78 units on a 65,198 square-foot lot

Kaslo Street – 50 units on a 20,139 square-foot lot

The building sizes for Franklin, Powell and Marpole are about 15,000 square feet for each 39-unit structure, according to Luke Harrison of the Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency. The building planned for Kaslo would be closer to 25,000 square feet.

Did you know?
The 2017 Homeless Count in Metro Vancouver reports more than 2,100 people living in homeless shelters or on the street within Vancouver.


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Read On: Renfrew Ravine

Quirky Bench Renfrew Ravine

Just before you reach 22nd Avenue in the Renfrew Ravine, stop to admire the quirky two-person stone bench. Photo by Julie Cheng

BY TONY WANLESS

Residents of Renfrew-Collingwood can consider themselves lucky because in their neighbourhood is an oasis of nature and calm that acts as a relief from the usual city noise and energy.

The Renfrew Ravine is an urban jewel – a little bit of wilderness that is a reminder of what all of Vancouver once looked like.

This section of forest and stream sits surrounded by busy streets with car, truck and transit noise and all the other sounds that are a feature of daily life in a city.

It reminds us that, not long ago, Vancouver was a lush wilderness teeming with birds, animals and fish, and which was home to many Native peoples.

A walk in the ravine begins across the street from the busy 29th Avenue Skytrain transit station and makes its way through forest, brambles and berry bushes that border a small gurgling, stream that makes its way along the floor of the valley on the left side of the trail.

As you walk, be sure to stop and visit the Renfrew Ravine Labyrinth, a large circle of stones that imitate ancient stone circles created by peoples around the world thousands of years ago. Built in 2002, it has become a favourite meditation spot, so follow the circles and have a little meditation of your own.

Then continue down the path, past houses and along the laneway, until the path picks up again. Just before you reach 22nd Avenue, stop to admire the quirky two-person stone bench. Cross the street and go down the hill to the left of Renfrew Park Community Centre, along a path that borders a tumbling stream. Sometimes, in early spring, you can see little fish swimming in the waters just before the creek goes under Grandview Highway.

At this point you will probably notice something about yourself. Stress, sadness or weariness that might have bothered you before are now gone. That is the revitalizing power of a walk in the ravine.

Read On Word Search Renfrew Ravine October 2017

 

Copyright (c) 2017 Renfrew-Collingwood Community News


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Slocan Park notice board keeps community connected

Local artists create a gorgeous salmon-shaped bulletin board with the help of a Neighbourhood Small Grant from the Vancouver Foundation

BY ROB HOWATSON

This beautiful salmon-shaped bulletin board, hanging on the wall of the Slocan Park Field House, is an invitation for neighbours to connect with each other.

This beautiful salmon-shaped bulletin board, hanging on the wall of the Slocan Park Field House, is an invitation for neighbours to connect with each other. Photo courtesy of Rob Howatson

When it comes to community building, you can never have too many bulletin boards to help spread the word about upcoming neighbourhood events.

Problem is, aside from libraries and community centres, the city offers few legal spaces to display notices. There are about 200 or so municipality-approved poster cylinders – metal bands that wrap utility poles – located in the city, but they tend to be restricted to the busiest arterials. And, as the Vancouver Public Space Network points out in a letter to Mayor Robertson’s Engaged City Task Force, commercial poster companies quickly and repeatedly blanket these word rings with their paid advertising. This leaves little room for neighbours to tape up their block party invites.

Fortunately, some community-minded Renfrew-Collingwood residents have found a way to provide at least a little space for grassroots notices. Local artists Carmen Rosen and Suzo Hickey applied for a Neighbourhood Small Grant from the Vancouver Foundation to create a gorgeous bulletin board shaped like a chum salmon. The functional art piece hangs on the wall of the Slocan Park Field House, an effective location given its proximity to the busy 29th Avenue Skytrain station.

Suzo says they chose a fish shape for the piece in recognition of Still Creek that used to flow through Vancouver’s eastside until much of the waterway was culverted in the early 1900s. Sections of the creek still run on the surface in the Renfrew Ravine, near the Grandview Highway and in Burnaby. In 2012, a record number of chum found their way up the creek to spawn, despite the fact that until recently the creek was considered one of the most polluted streams in B.C. and little fish activity had been reported there in the past 50 years.

“This project was a great way to share local history with the neighbourhood,” says Suzo, “but more importantly we invited area residents to help decorate the notice board’s fishy frame with steel washers, copper washers and bottlecaps. And in doing so, we provided a  great opportunity for people to meet and share experiences, which I think is the best way to build community.”

The eye-catching bulletin board is managed by the Art House in the Field Collective, which uses the Slocan Park field house as studio space for visual art classes, costume design, music and photography.

Neighbourhood Small Grants Project – Application deadline April 7, 2014

Collingwood Neighbourhood House has once again partnered with South Vancouver Neighbourhood House to host the Neighbourhood Small Grants and Greenest City Neighbourhood Small Grants project this year. Pairs or small groups of residents are encouraged to apply for a grant from $50 to $1,000 to improve your neighbourhood socially, culturally or physically!

Please go to vancouverfoundation.ca/nsg  for more information and to apply. All applicants are encouraged to apply online. If you cannot apply online, paper applications can be picked up at the Neighbourhood House beginning in March 2014. Online application opens on March 3, 2014. Application deadline is April 7. For further information contact Sheri Parke at sparke01@shaw.ca or reception at Collingwood Neighbourhood House, 604-435-0323.

Copyright (c) 2014 Renfrew-Collingwood Community News