The controversial Walmart-anchored shopping centre plan took another major - albeit expected - step forward Tuesday night.
City council sent Smartcentres' $100-million, 14-acre outdoor shopping mall proposal in West Cambie onto the public hearing stage with a vote of 8-1 - Coun. Harold Steves
the lone dissenting voice.
The two city council voices that had yet to be heard recently on the application - Ken Johnston and Derek Dang - both voted in favour of moving the plan forward.
"I feel this is a land-use matter," Johnston told the News, referring to the condemnation
many objectors have to Walmart being the developer's anchor tenant. "(City council) doesn't get involved in Walmart's corporate policies; it's not our job.
"This has been back and forth for too long and it's time for us to listen to the folks at a public hearing; that's what we do as councillors and we'll make a decision after that." Johnston added that he doesn't have any major issues, at this point, with the proposal on the table.
Dang, meanwhile, from what he's heard from the public thus far, feels the public have bigger issues with Walmart than they do with the shopping centre proposal itself.
"People seem to have a real problem with (Walmart) and they will now get the chance to say what they want at the public hearing I guess," said Dang.
"But this area has been earmarked as a big box development for a while. It's healthier that it all comes out at a public hearing though, and it's really time to put this one to bed, one way or the other."
At a planning committee meeting two weeks ago, Smartcentres, in a bid to win favour with city council, offered $238,000 towards more park enhancements within the West Cambie site and for "ecological" improvements within nearby West Cambie Park.
The move was, in part, motivated by the potential loss of environmentally sensitive area (ESA) designated land within the proposed shopping centre site.
Last month, councillors sent the application back to staff once more, with concerns over the loss of ESA land and the impact of traffic coming into Richmond from out of town. However, a revised city staff report indicated that only 15 per cent of the extra traffic is anticipated to come from outside the city.
A number of intersection improvements in the area are also being paid for by the developer, should the plans be approved after the public hearing later this fall.
