Protesters rallied Saturday against the Port of Vancouver’s plans to expand its terminal near the Downtown Eastside’s CRAB Park.
The $320-million Centerm expansion project, led by the Port and DP World Vancouver, aims to increase the container capacity of the existing terminal by about two-thirds.
The Port wants to expand the terminal westward to accommodate an extension of its container and intermodal yards. The extension would include a larger wharf structure, rock dykes and earth fill. If approved, construction would start in 2017 and be completed in late 2019.
But critics fear the extension will spoil views, increase tanker traffic and create new safety risks in the area, significantly impacting nearby CRAB Park.
CRAB opened in 1987, after the Port contributed the land for park use on a long-term lease to the city. It took its name in 2004 from a neighbourhood committee, Create a Real Available Beach, and is a popular spot for Downtown Eastside residents.
Don Larson, who led CRAB and is now with the Crab-Water for Life Society, said he’s concerned the expansion will negatively impact the water quality while bringing more hazardous goods and cargo by truck and rail.
Larson recalled a chemical fire at the port in March, 2015, which sent a massive plume of toxic smoke over the community and more than a dozen people to hospital. He fears an expansion would make evacuating the area more difficult.
“There’s people with disabilities, elderly, people on drugs” in the area, Larson said.
“Why would anyone want to bring in more dangerous cargo if you can’t evacuate the community?”
Barb Daniel, president of Four Sisters Housing Cooperative, called CRAB Park “crucially important” to Downtown Eastside residents who don’t have gardens of their own.
“They live in crappy little hotel rooms or tiny apartments and this is their only piece of nature, and it’s so important,” she said.
“It’s no secret that our neighbourhood faces very serious challenges and so it’s absolutely crucial that people can come and stand or sit here, look out at the water, look at the mountains . . . and just feel that they’re part of something.”
Jenny Kwan, MP for Vancouver East, was critical of what she considers a flawed review process. She wants the federal government to make good on its promise to renew its environmental assessment process.
The expansion project is subject to review and approval by Port Metro Vancouver’s own Project and Environmental Review Process, though PMV notes it would likely need approvals from Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Transport Canada.
“I want the Port to hear loud and clear from our community that we want to save CRAB Park, that we don’t want this expansion,” she said.
“We want, basically, for the federal government to take action to restore accountability with the Port of Vancouver.”
neagland@postmedia.com
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