Bob Mackin
An adjudicator with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner says the traffic studies around the Senakw towers in Vancouver can remain secret.
In an April 29 ruling, David Adams agreed with City of Vancouver’s decision to refuse access to the chair of the Kits Point Residents Association, because the city received the disputed information “under a mutual, reasonable expectation of confidentiality” from another government, the Squamish Nation.
Association chair Eve Munro originally filed a freedom of information request to city hall for the traffic impact studies in August 2022 about the project on Squamish Nation reserve land beside the Burrard Bridge.
Of the 179 pages she received a year later, only six pages were not censored. The city eventually provided another 57 pages, but those were also censored.
The city claimed that any further disclosure would harm relations with an Indigenous governing entity and compromise Indigenous cultural heritage and traditional knowledge.
The first three, federally approved residential towers nearing completion are the product of a partnership between Westbank Projects and the Squamish Nation’s Nch’Kay Development. The city’s involvement was limited to a services agreement.
Not in the public interest: adjudicator
Munro tried to make the case that disclosure of the records was in the public interest, but Adams disagreed, because the city has no jurisdiction over the project.
“The city may make decisions in relation to the traffic impacts of the project, but I cannot see how disclosure of the specific information in the records will allow the public to hold the city accountable for its decisions in that respect.”
“I accept that the public might be interested in knowing the information contained in the records, but the public interest, in the context of [the public interest override], does not encompass everything the public might be interested in learning.”
What is known
The only substantial record given Munro was a May 2020 memo from City of Vancouver transportation and parking management engineer Lynn Morishita to a manager at Westbank Development about “person trip generation.”
The memo references studies by consultant Bunt and Associates and mentions roadway connections to the site proposed from Chestnut Street north of Greer Avenue and an extension of Fir Street north of West First Avenue and Creekside Drive.
The towers, when fully built by 2030, are expected to be home for 10,000 to 12,000 people, but with fewer than 1,000 parking spots. That means demand for buses, taxicabs, carshare and rideshare services will skyrocket.
“The Senakw Lands are anticipated to generate 4,900 person trips during the AM peak hour. Transit trips could be between 1,200 and 1,700 during the peak hour, which equates to 10 to 14 additional articulated buses,” Morishita’s letter said.
Subscribe to theBreaker.news on Substack. Find out how: Click here.
