Green light campaign calls for Concord Pacific to fulfill park promise

Residents of Vancouver’s False Creek are shining green lights in their windows calling for Concord Pacific to fulfill a decades-old promise to create a park in the neighbourhood.

Hundreds of residents on the north east end of False Creek hope their statement will catch the city’s attention. They want the owners of an empty lot east of BC Place to turn the space into a park.

Concord Pacific signed a deal with the city and the province to create nine acres of green space along the seawall in return for more than 7,000 units of new housing.

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“The park is not a luxury,” said Andrea MacKenzie from the False Creek Residents Association. “It’s not something extra that we’re demanding. It’s simply a 24-year-old promise, to which is there has been no commitment whatsoever.

Concord Pacific said they won’t take action until the city decides the future of the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts.

“The current plan and study to remove the viaducts needs to be completed before our site planning can proceed. Although we have been delayed and impacted, we understand these are important civic initiatives. We are as anxious as our neighbours to see our waterfront developments and the park completed as soon as possible,” Concord Pacific said in a statement.

The statement did little to satisfy residents, who worry the park will never be built.

City councillors said there is little they can do because Concord Pacific doesn’t have to develop the green space until it applies for the area to be rezoned.

“They’re carefully following the agreement that they made with the city. It’s a contractual agreement. We can’t just turn around and say ‘we’ve changed our mind, you have to build a park,'” said city councillor Geoff Meggs.

Residents plan to keep their green bulbs lit as a silent reminder that they’re still waiting.