Change can sometimes be difficult to deal with - just ask the residents of Burquitlam.

Gone are the days of single-family homes dominating the area, and a proliferation of recent development in one of the city's oldest neighbourhoods has some residents worried.

That rapid rate of the neighbourhood's conversion, along with the social impacts of construction - noise, litter and decreased parking - was the subject of a lengthy debate at City Hall Monday.

At the heart of the discussion was a rezoning application that will see two single-family homes and a duplex converted into a 71-unit apartment building on Regan Avenue.

Second and third readings of the application were approved, but not before area residents made their feelings known during the evening's public hearing. Some cited specific concerns about the proposal - a loss of views, for example - but the overwhelming response was that change is happening too quickly throughout the neighbourhood.

"We are a small community - we're very small," said Ducklow Street resident Marilyn Black. "We have duplexes and single-family dwellings and we're going through a huge transition here.

It is very difficult on us."

"It's a mess," added another resident who lives on Regan Avenue.

Noise, a lack of parking and ongoing problems with tradespeople were a common refrain from those in attendance. Virtually every councillor conceded those points.

"We're a growing city and the biggest complaint we get about development isn't so much the development itself, it's about the impacts that are created by those developments," said Coun. Brent Asmundson.

A quick glimpse of the area near the Regan Avenue site reflects wide-spread change: just metres down the road, the former Safeway site is a barren lot. One block to the north reveals a series of new apartment and townhouse complexes on Como Lake Avenue.

A new development is being built just a few blocks to the south on Langside Avenue as well, and that building has been cited by NOW readers and council as being problematic.

"The impact of construction is a real concern," said Coun. Craig Hodge. "I appreciate what the residents have gone through. I think they've been generally very patient at a time when they're seeing a lot of change."

The Regan Avenue development is walking distance from a soon-to-be developed Evergreen Line station, and that point was continually touched on in justifying redevelopment in the area.

"This neighbourhood is going to change," said Mayor Richard Stewart.

"It is near a transit station and near transit stations we have to, I think, responsibly develop and put in density so that we put as many people next to the station and mitigate traffic challenges across this region.

"We have to do that." City planners did note that bylaw enforcement officers are closely monitoring the area to ensure construction schedules and parking regulations are being adhered to.

Council, however, wanted that monitoring process ratcheted up, with Stewart suggesting a bylaw officer be designated to the area on a full-time basis.

"If necessary, we'll shut the site down," he said. "We can't allow these kinds of impacts."

Ultimately, the Regan Avenue development proposal is likely to come back to council for the final approvals necessary to break ground within the next two to five months.

jkurucz@thenownews.com

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