VANCOUVER, B.C. - TEAM for a Livable Vancouver is pledging to kill BC Hydro’s $1 billion Nelson Park substation project if it wins a council majority in Saturday’s civic election, backing West End residents who say the project would sacrifice one of the neighbourhood’s few green spaces.
Mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick says a TEAM-majority council would rescind the Park Board’s land use agreements with BC Hydro, stop five years of planned construction inside the park, and block the removal of up to 83 mature trees. The party would also set a standing rule against using public parkland for industrial infrastructure.
“People are understandably angry that the proposed project is threatening one of the neighbourhood’s most important public spaces,” Hardwick said in the party’s statement. “TEAM will protect Nelson Park.”
What the release does not say: whether rescinding the agreements would survive a legal challenge from BC Hydro, which already holds the rights-of-way, or how the West End’s electricity needs would be met in the interim. TEAM says it would work with BC Hydro on alternative locations and ask the BC Utilities Commission to deny the project’s public convenience permit.
The Vancouver Park Board approved amendments to BC Hydro’s existing agreements in July, permitting additional construction activity in Nelson Park. Commissioners also directed staff to study routing part of the transmission infrastructure along Nelson Street instead.
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver is a Vancouver civic party running Hardwick for mayor in the October 17 municipal election. Hardwick is a former NPA city councillor.
Apna News has not independently verified TEAM’s claims about the project’s scope or timeline.
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