Residents vs cemetery in Burnaby fight

Photo courtesy of  lunacalle66

It was a packed Burnaby council chambers last Monday as residents turned out in droves to show their frustration over potential truck traffic going through their neighborhood.

The delegation

Bob Thompson represented the group as he spoke for over 15 minutes to Burnaby city council. He said he and his neighbors are angry city staff have proposed a residential route for the comings and goings of semi trucks and construction vehicles that will be working on the latest Forest Lawn Cemetery expansion starting this summer.

"They are making their problem our problem," Thompson said.

The route and the problem

The planned truck route is down  Royal Oak Avenue and Moscrop Street.

Thompson, who is an injury lawyer, said the plan is "not acceptable" and the residents would not put up with it.

"Basically they want three months for this—50 per cent of the dry season. We can't enjoy our yards six days a week 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m," said Thompson.

He said they are concerned traffic will be loud and dangerous, especially for children who walk back and forth to schools in the area.

The argument

Thompson had three main points for council:

• There is an existing truck route bylaw which designates truck route options, the current plan by city staff does not follow the designated route.
• If the trucks are going to bypass the designated route they have to take the next shortest route, the plan is not the shortest route.
• The plan cuts through residential neighbourhoods which includes two high schools and a church.

"The standard of proof should be against the cemetery," he said.

Thompson ran video showing trucks in front of his house the last time the cemetery was expanded two years ago. On the video a semi-truck is seen leaving the cemetery and rolling through a stop sign. Later a young girl is seen trying to maneuver around a truck to walk down the street.

The solution

Thompson said there is an easy alternative to the proposed route which is to use the northern gate of the property, on Canada Way, as the entrance and exit point for all the vehicles working on the project. 

Mayor Derek Corrigan said council is "jurisdictionally frustrated" because cemeteries fall under the province. He said council would not have approved the level of construction that is going to take place on the cemetery grounds, but "the reality is we have to accomodate this" project. 

He agreed with Thompson's interpretation of the bylaws and said council would send the plan for the proposed truck route back to staff and see if a better solution can be found. He told the group that if staff couldn't find a better solution he would call a meeting with the residents to work something out.

Audience reaction

The group of residents broke out into applause at news the proposal would be sent back to staff, but at least on local wasn't totally convinced.

"We''ll see what comes up from this," said Don Harkquail, "We've been through issues before and it didn't turn out favourably."

Update

At March 18 council meeting it was announced staff had reached an agreement with Forest Lawn to have the traffic leave through the north gate of the property as the residents had requested.