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Residents at the east end of False Creek want to know how Concord Pacific can get away with running a presentation centre and storing unsightly construction materials near the Plaza of Nations without the proper permits.
"They've got shipping containers, they've got trailers, they've got outhouses, they've got cranes. They've got all sorts of stuff on that site [just east of the Plaza of Nations] and there's not one permit, and there's nobody else in the city that's allowed to do that," said Patsy McMillan, chair of the Citygate Inter-tower Community Group and co-chair of the False Creek Residents Association.
"We've been asking for a response from the city and why they're able to put an illegal works yard and junkyard on that site for three years and they just keep going around and around the same circle," she said. "And when the city's legal department goes after a kids' tree house and takes them to court, and they even had a permit, and there's Concord Pacific on a huge piece of property--huge eyesore, no permit--and they do nothing."
Neighbours' anger over the issue intensified in the lead up to last weekend's dragon boat festivities and Cirque du Soleil shows, both of which took place at or near Creekside Park and the surrounding waterfront. They continue to wonder when the Creekside Park extension to the end of Carrall Street will be developed.
"Concord Pacific, on Monday they're going to the permit board, Bill Boons, to get approval for the development at 58 West Hastings, and our argument is that they don't have the credibility and the accountability to receive that, and that they need to fulfill their other obligations to the community before they're given any other permits," McMillan said last Friday. The development was approved Monday afternoon.
Concord has been operating its presentation centre at the northeast side of False Creek since March without an occupancy permit.
Bill Boons, the city's assistant director of the development services processing centre, told McMillan June 18 that he'd met with representatives of Concord Pacific in response to her concerns. After their meeting, Boons said Concord installed fences, promised it would keep the presentation centre site clean and provided a contact for their security guard. Boons said Concord will be required to install a heavier fence with lockable gates as soon as Cirque du Soleil leaves.
Boons told her he'd made it clear to Concord that the city expected better performance from the company and that it shouldn't expect exemptions or exclusions from the city's requirements.
"What is the purpose of a development permit board if a company does whatever it wants and then is issued permits retroactively without penalty?" McMillan asked Boons in an email. She believes Concord shouldn't be allowed to apply for a possible two-year extension for the presentation centre.
The Creekside Park extension was laid out in a 1990 development plan. Changes to the Northeast False Creek Urban Design Plan postponed the park's extension in 2004. Now, McMillan says, part of the land will be used to stage the 2010 Games.
"There's no darn good reason why all their plans can't be in place so it's like March 2010 they start excavating and putting in the park," she said.
Boons did not return phone calls before the Courier's deadline.
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