Information and opinions relating to proposed civic centre site, Vancouver, B.C.

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INFORMATION

AND

OPINIONS

RELATING TO
PROPOSED

CIVIC CENTRE

VANCOUVER. B.C.

CITY Cr- VA^MOljVi:.::^

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TOWN PLANNING COMMISSION.

30q , LOMDON BU)LDIN6,

^ObEK 22 NO 1^26. .

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^NCOUYtR.',S.C.

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I IT F 0 R ].I A T I 0 n and 0 P I H I 0 il S
RSLiVTIKG TO THE PROPOSED CIVIC CET'TTRS SITS.

VANCOUVER, 3. C.

COI^TTEI-ITS :

Letter of transinissal dated 22nd Octooer ,1926.

SXFIIBITS:

I, llap of Greatar Vancouvor shov/ing proposed Civic

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II. Ivlap of City of Vancouver shoviinc a number of
proposed sites for Civic Centre.

111. Report of lyl^ on Civic Centre.

IV. Press Report of 3th i''eliruary, 1925.

V. Circulars giving opinions on Civic Centre Site
to lie voted on 1th ITovemlDer, 1925.

VI. Result of vote on 7tli November, 1925-

Vll.Ooinions of Mr. Y/. S. Bland, member of Citizens'
Committee on Civic Centre and member of Tovai
Planning- Commission.

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TOWN PLANNING COMMISSION

309 LONDON BUILDING

Vancouver, B.C.

22nd October, I526,

liarland Bartholomew & Associates,
317 I^'orth :i;i9venth Street, ^
Saint Louis, I.lisso'ari.

Dear l.Ir. Ivlill:

Sites for Civic Centre,

Pursuant to your instructions I am
transmitting herev/itli maps and other material that
nay be of value to you in deciding on a desirable
site for the Civic Centre, i'here is a desire on
the part of soue of the City Council to have a 3y-
Lar/ put before the people at the next election,
which I understand, v;ill be on Decenber 5th, 1^26.
A copy of the proposed 3y-La\v must be published a
month before the election. As I understand it, a
I.-oney Sy-Lav; will be put before the rate payers for
the piu^pose of authorizing the City to spend One
I.-illion Dollars in the purchase of the Civic Centre
Site, referred to in this report as Site "A", and
Qoirjnonly known as "Central School Site."

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If, after consideration, you dec-ide that Site "A"
is a desirable one, a v/ire to that effect, v/iil be
sufficient to allov; tlie Council to proceed v/ith the
printing and publishing- of the proposed 3y-Lav;. Any
report can follov; at a later da,te.

The material has been collected all
under one cover, both for convenience and because of
sor.e of the material, there is only one copy and I"*
would request that tlie booklet be sent back here, at
yoiu" conveniencej to be filed for futixre reference.

As you no doubt have observed on yoiir
visit here, the presen.t City Hall is both inadet^uate
and unprepossessint"' i-i appearance. Healizin^- this,
on 8th January, 1^14 , the following By-Law was sub-
mitted to the electors; "V/hich one of the following
properties do you favour as a site for the erection
thereon of a City Mall?" Cl)?;ies.ent City Hall site on
I^airi_Stlia£L£ ^;0cu3rth half of Central School ^-rn-i-^-i r^
fa^n,': on Pender Street, betv/een Cambie Street and
Hamilton Street (referred to, .in this report, as
Site "A=')- The vote was p644 for the present City
Hall site, and 4^33 for Site "A", a ir,a3ority of
889 for the latter. Apparently, as a result of this
vote the matter of grouping buildings around the
proposed City Hall was broug]it to the attention of
the public. A Vancouver Civic Centre Committee was
formed and the resiat of their work v/ill be found in
a report marked Exhibit 3 herev/ith.

As mentioned in a press report, "V/ith f
the outbreak of war all thought of a Civic~ Centre in i
keeping with the City development was put away until I
a more opportune time."

Early in 1>>23 the project was revived
and a Citizens' Committee was appointed, I understand,
by the Council, and comprised of all the well known
city organizations. V/hile not unanimous, this Citizens'
Committee has reported in favour of Site "A".

. UX-1

As shovm in Exhibit 6 Ii3r8v/i1
Three sites v;ere yoted on l^Tovsmber 7'th, 192.5, v;ith
rssxilts as shown thereon, Site "A" having the majority
over the otlier two combined.

3XIII3IT 1.

There is shown on a map of Greater Vancouver
the sites "A", "E" ancl "C" which were voted on ITovamber
7th, 1923. This r.;ap illustrates the relation of such
proposed Civic Centres to the \7h0le area that is to be
planned. A^ftJ^r the coning elections the matter of
amalgar.ation of both Point Grey and South Vancouver,
I understand, is to be voted on. The opinion has- losan
exoressed, and I give it to you for v/hat it is worth,
that aiv By-Law in regard to funds for the Civic Centre
should be voted on only after the matter of amalgamation
is settled one way or th3 other. This opinion is based
on the consideration, that even though the amalgamation,
of these other municipalities v/ith Vancouver will not
change the location of the Civic Centre, the rate-
payers in these areas should have an opportunity/, if
they are to become part of Vancouver, of voting on such
an important matter. On the other hand the opinion
is extji-essed that every little delay in deciding the
matter is costing money, as property values are expected
to q.uic]cly increase. Street Hailway lines are shovrn.

SmiBIT 2.

On the map of the City of Vancouver there is
shown the location of business and corxiercial buildings
as compiled by Liajor llacKenzie. Several proposed sites
are shovra. Those which were voted on recently are marJzed
"A", "B" and "C" and are the only ones, I believe v/'iich
need to be particularly considered. The site marZ-ced
"::umber 2', while at present on one edge of the business
centre, is located very close to the pea-k of land values
and will, as hr.ICills points out, undoubtedly be surrounded
by business in the futvG?e . The site'mar:^8d ''C", which
"belorL-ed to the City, is not now avaixable , as some

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industries are now located there. ilov;ever, there
has 'been a proposal that in this vicinity, "out v/est
of Main' Street'! a desirable site is available facing
the Canadian National Railv/ay Depot. I understand
that Mr. V.'alkor tool: up the details of t:ais site
with you. i'ho site is city property, but would re-
q,ulre considerable filling. -s;-^

•^Site "C" reo-oived in the recent plebiscite
of 7th iVovevnber,li^25>, a izs=:ij£=£::xi:±i vote of ':s^, and
I believe, an adjoining site west of :.-ain Street would
get about the same support, although it has the added
advantage of giving a chance for better treatment for
a site which faces railway stations.

Site "3" is probably the nost desirable
other than those in the dov/n town area, it is rather
strongly urged by one or tv/o of the Alf^errr.an, but as
Mr. Mills has observed it is considerable distance
from the business centre.

5.

In the opinion of the 1914-1^ Vancouver
Civic Centre Committee, apparently only '-^ite "A" was
considered. On Page 6 of this report, Mr. Thomas Adams
in his assessment on various plans submitted approved
of the suggestion to reserve the old Court House site
as open space. x'his has been done and is now l:nown as
Victory Square and at the northern end thereof, there
has been erected a Cenotaph. On page o of the report
i.-r. Adams also states and gives some reasons for his
statement that "VAiile it is no part of my duty to_^express
approval or otherwise of the site chosen for the Civic
Centre, I should lilce to say that it seems to me to be
a satisfactory selection."

EXHIBIT 4. i^'Ote that newspaper offices adjoin Site "A".

EXHIBIT 3.- It mig'it be noted that those expressing ■
■opinions in regard to site "A" include several members
of the To^m Planning Commissions, ..r. llev/ton ^. Kerr,

a merulDer of the Point Grey Tovrn Planning Coniinission,
Ilescrs. 'V. 3. Bland, W. A. Clark and G. L. Thornton
Sharo who are meiTibers of the Vancoxwer i'own Planning
Goffimission, Kr. W. C. Shelly, ex-officio member of
the 'Town Planning Goironission v/ho is generally
represented at the meetings of the Coramission by L'.r.
Johothan Rogers, who with i..r. Shelly is a member of
the Park Board.

EXHIBIT 6.

Probably no partictilar corrjiient is
needed on this Exhibit, except as already noted
that site "3" received by a srr.F-11 \^ote and that site
"C" is not now available.

3XHI3I? 7.

I feel that i:r. Bland has gone to consider-
able trouble to present his views in this regard and
they represent, I believe, the views of a great major-
ity v.-ho'have taken any interest in this matter.

Mr. Kills will no doubt recall that x.r..
Sharo of the i'ovm Planning Comraission favours the
accuiring of two block to the south of the proposed
site "A" and having buildings on both sides of Georgia
Street, i'his would probably be a more expensive scheme
and is not contemplated. l..r. "walker our Secretary,
suggested another modification that the front of all
blocks facing the proposed site should be ac-iuired

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and sul)sec|.uently be sola, vhe olDject being that the
city would get the benefit of the rise in value;? and
would have greater control over the type of buildings
to be erected.

'i'rusting that the information
gathered in the short time at my disposal v/ill be
sufficient for your purpose at this t iir.e .

incurs very truly,
HLS:C Horace L. 3ey:..jur

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