Yes, it's been a year

Too much going on, change at work, more responsibility - it snowballed - so I'm going to summarize 2014 in pictures:

and finally they have done this section, and put in snazzy light poles.  North Road is still a mess - there's nothing to say about that.  The EGRT rep came to us and explained they need non-rainy weather to finish, so don't look for that until next year.  In the meantime, a bit less of a battle zone.

Power outage

Thank you, EGRT for the power outage today.  It's great that we get no warning, and there is no consideration for the people that live here.  Thank you for making our lives a little bit harder than you already do.  We don't mind you coming in and making a bunch of noise and tearing up the joint.  But how about some consideration for the people that live and work here?

Traffic - with a comment

Temporary Nighttime Closures of Como Lake Avenue

between Clarke Road and Elmwood Street
 

As part of the assembly of the launching truss for the Evergreen Line, there will be temporary nighttime closures of Como Lake Avenue between Clarke Road and Elmwood Street on November 23 and November 30. Crews will be using a large crane to move the launching truss into its final position so that it is ready to hoist segments and begin construction of the elevated guideway.

• Nearby residents can expect noise related to nighttime construction activities, including the use of heavy machinery. Every effort will be made to minimize noise and disruptions when possible.

Really?  More than there has been?  Call me jaded but it seems to me that we're already experiencing a lot of nighttime noise during the week.  And as per my previous post, even when they aren't working, they leave stuff going.  Is this an effort to make things so bad we'll hardly notice the annoyance of the Skytrain once it is running because anything will be better than this?

Oh great - servers may be down

September 30, 2013

COMMUNITY NOTICE
Coquitlam

Temporary Power Service Disruption
for Residents at 522 Smith Avenue

Residents are advised that there will be a temporary disruption to power service on October 2 from 9 a.m. to
3 p.m. as part of ongoing utility relocation work in the area. Utility relocation work is required in advance of the
construction of the elevated guideway for the Evergreen Line Rapid Transit Project.

Crews need to temporarily shut off power to residents at 522 Smith Avenue – the Sedona condo complex – in order
to connect the underground hydro cables to the existing transformers.

Nearby residents and businesses can expect to see daytime construction activities as part of this work. Every effort
will be made to minimize noise and disruptions when possible.

To contact EGRT Construction, the contractor who is building the Evergreen Line, please call 604-927-2080,
available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you have comments or questions about the Evergreen Line Rapid Transit
Project, please call the Evergreen Project Office at (604) 927-4452 or email info@evergreenline.gov.bc.ca.


CONTACT US

To find out more, or to receive traffic updates:

Traffic Information Line (available 24 hours, 7 days a week):
604-927-2080
Email: info@evergreenline.gov.bc.ca
Facebook: www.facebook.com/evergreenline

Line work begins

Line work begins
From the Now Newspaper:

Workers will dig a 1.5-metre trench, install BC Hydro duct banks and then resurface the area to its previous condition. Construction will begin on Como Lake Avenue near the intersection of Clarke Road. From there, it will continue on Como Lake Avenue west to North Road and east to Dogwood Street.

This work will be done at the intersection between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. to minimize traffic impacts. Meanwhile, work on either side of the intersection will be done during the day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to minimize impacts on residents.

Read more: http://www.thenownews.com/Line+work+begins/6226053/story.html#ixzz1nqPTEpib


In other words, it will be noisy at my house whether we sleep during the day or during the night.

Clarke Road

Last month council started doing work on the water system on Clarke.  In addition they are doing a realignment of the cables and other things that live underground in preparation for the Evergreen Line.  It is fantastic to see some work starting.  Of course it comes with a cost: the construction people started digging and hit a gas line that wasn't on their map, resulting in an evacuation of the area until that could get solved.  Traffic is down to one lane around Smith which causes drivers to block the intersection of Smith and Clarke frequently.  But still, it's great to see some activity finally.  And with the skytrain, we are seeing the slow densification of the area, slowly newer, fancier and taller buildings are being slated to come in, bringing more people and more traffic.  I guess time will tell how far council will let it go.

Burquitlam Station

Found this little tidbit on wikimapia - don't know about its accuracy

According to "jodi", who posted this in 2007, the red square is where the station will be and the buildings there have already been removed. Since 2007, some developer has put up a temporary structure for a residential unit.

This entry cites Snake Hill as being too steep for the LRT - and having witnessed more than my share of accidents on that hill since 1976, I can certainly attest to that. The website lists a Barnet station, but we now know that isn't in the cards. Still, interesting to see the aerial view of this and realize how it will impact the existing structures.

Development Permit Area Guidelines

Came across the Burquitlam Neighbourhood Plan (doc 689384.v1) in my noodling through things. I noticed that I'm encompassed in this plan, which was drawn up in September 2008. Guess I should have looked at all of this first.

The Objectives state:

a. To recognize the role of the Transit Village in accommodating compact, mixed-use transit-oriented developments near the Burquitlam transit station.
b. To recognize the Burquitlam Neighbourhood as a visible "gateway" to Coquitlam, and a major community activity centre.
c. To ensure a sound relationship between different land uses in the Development Permit Area, and the adjacent residential areas.
d. To ensure that all transportation modes is maintained in this area of relatively high density movement.
e. To encourage a good working and living environment that for residents and employees in the area.
f. To protect the potential for a future rapid transit alignment and station along Clarke Road.

Hey - what? we're a Gateway? They want to ensure that traffic moves through the soon to be high density area? I hope they read their own documents before the skytrain is finished. Traffic is already a mess here, I can hardly imagine how much worse it will get.