Richmond City Council gave a last minute reprieve on Tuesday to the two private partners involved in a major development project that is meant to be built around a Canada Line Station.
The Capstan Way Station was meant to be a later add-on to the Canada Line now under construction.
A 16-tower condo development, including commercial buildings, the massive Sun Tech City project, and a daycare, are part of the scheme. The city had given a series of extensions to the two partners -- Pinnacle International and Concord Pacific -- to meet some zoning requirements. But internal problems had caused the issue to drag on.
"If the application for the rezoning is going to be cancelled, it really doesn't matter if we are going to do it now or in two months. If it is not going to go ahead then we need to bring it to a close. But if we do it in January or March, then it is pretty much all the same," said Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie
Iglika Ivanova of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives said the problems were indicative of Public-Private Partnerships.
"There is a long lag of contract negotiations before anything starts. So if the government is willing to increase infrastructure spending, if they do it with Public-Private Partnerships the time it takes to start seeing the benefits is going to be too long."
Richmond Council is looking at alternatives in case the project falls flat in the coming weeks.
It doesn't appear that the loss of the station would impact the Canada Line overall.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Leah Hendry.
