To the editor:
Re: "West End residents rally against rezoning," July 22.
It is good to hear that director of planning Brent Toderian and city council "need to get advice from the Urban Design Panel." Yet Norquay residents are worrying that this kind of "advice" may amount to little more than a stage of paper formality--intelligent words never to be heeded.
The first major Kingsway rezoning under the 2010 Norquay Plan went to public hearing on July 12. Local residents remain uncertain about what will happen to the "panel's consensus on key aspects needing improvement." This rezoning affects the second of only five large land parcels available along Kingsway. That does not leave many more chances. One is already gone.
If planning botches the opening across from Norquay Park that will lead into the linear greenway toward Renfrew ravine, then a big piece of what Norquay was promised in return for mass rezoning gets trashed at the outset.
To be more positive, redevelopment of the old Wally's Burgers site offers a unique opportunity to define place in Norquay.
Rhetoric has insisted that revitalization is coming to the Kingsway corridor. This issue should not be left to wilt in backroom compromise. Redrawing of the development allowed under the now-approved rezoning is a must.
Joseph Jones,
Vancouver
