Notre Dame Neighbours is an informal community group. We are all City of Vancouver residents living near Notre Dame Regional Secondary School in East Vancouver. We formed in 2005 in response to Notre Dame’s plans to redevelop their school and grounds. We support other community groups who are also working to keep our communities strong, healthy and peaceful.

We also acknowledge that we live on the traditional unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples including the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.

Back in 2004, the City of Vancouver was prepared to allow the school to move ahead with any construction it pleased without notification to, nor input from, the neighbourhood. A swift and strong reaction from residents convinced the City to change course and allow meaningful consultation.

A City sanctioned process took place and neighbours were able to review and comment on the school’s development plan.

It was clear at these meetings that while residents liked some aspects, they totally rejected Notre Dame’s proposal to remove the landmark poplar trees and construct a stadium with lighting and an artificial turf field. Neighbours were also concerned about hours of operation and did not want Notre Dame to allow outside groups to use the field.

During the City of Vancouver’s consultation process and, in response to the growing opposition to the development, Notre Dame agreed to remove the stadium and its lights from the plan. They agreed to build a new grass playing field, with no stands and retain the poplar trees. The field was supposed to be for school use only, with limited hours.

In the 2008, Notre Dame received approval for this redevelopment (City Permit DE410128).

This plan allowed residents to stand down, confident that Notre Dame would build something positive for itself and the neighbourhood.

Construction on the school buildings (Phases 1 & 2) proceeded slowly until 2016. The parking lot and field remained undeveloped. Nothing happened in 2017.

In March 2018, Notre Dame quietly submitted a proposal to the City of Vancouver for an amendment to the 2008 Permit. Neighbours were not informed of this.

The new plan is identical to the original community rejected proposal, only this time there are no lights. Once again, the school wants to remove the landmark poplars and create an artificial turf field within a stadium. It is now called McCarthy Stadium.

It is as if the City of Vancouver permit consultation process never took place.

Notre Dame Neighbours reject the schools amended plan for a stadium. We support the original 2008 plan. That is what should be built at Notre Dame.

Last week’s arrival of this flyer on the doorstep was the first clue many Notre Dame neighbours had about BIG changes proposed for our community.

NOTE: The day after the flyer was circulated, Notre Dame School removed the web page mentioned on the cover of the flyer, above (ndrsbuilding.com/the-final-phase).

Here is the information that was removed:

Highlights from the Deleted Page:

In point 3, there is reference to the original plans being followed (the original plan was for a stadium and was strongly opposed by local residents in 2005).

Notre Dame agreed,  under community pressure, to the remove the lights from the project. That still stands. But, apart from that, we are “back to the original plan”.

It states that: “Notre Dame will have a football/sports stadium with an all-weather athletic field (not simply a sports field).”

Point 6 indicates that they hope to attract up to 2,000 spectators.

 

Flyer, second page:

We Are NOT Against a Sports Field

To reinforce the point made in the brochure, we are NOT against the students of Notre Dame School having a sports field of their own. On the contrary, we can’t really understand why it has take so long for them to get one.

What we ARE against, is the possibility of a destination sports STADIUM being brought into our small neighbourhood without our consent or consultation. Supporters of the project say that it not a stadium, merely a field with a few bleachers. However, the fact that the project is actually officially called the McArthur Stadium, and the statements made on the now-removed Notre Dame online statement, make us skeptical that that a field with a few bleachers is the limit of the plans for the site.

Why Will No-One Talk To Us?

We are made very uneasy by the lack of communication from the school. Attempts to speak with Notre Dame representatives by email, or in person, have been unsuccessful. Information from the school web site has been deleted as soon as our flyer pointed it out.

Letters from many neighbours to the Vancouver City Project Coordinator who is dealing with this permit, Claudia Hicks, have met only with the repeated message that the upgrade of the grass field project (approved in 2008) to an artificial turf field with stadium seating, (meant to host 2,000 visitors, as evidenced from the now removed Notre Dame web site) is a MINOR amendment.

Given that this part of the school restructuring will have BY FAR the biggest impact on the immediate community, and given that people who live only feet from the project have received NO NOTIFICATION from the school or the City about the changes about to come, we are still strongly campaigning for a public consultation process before final approval is given to this project.

Why is this such a hurried and non-transparent process? The application to amend the permit from grass field to artificial turf stadium was made in February 2018, yet no community announcement was made by the City or the school.

Looking for Communication and Compromise

As with all things in life, compromise is the best way to proceed.

As this situation currently stands, however, the City of Vancouver and Notre Dame School are not open to any compromise, or even communication.

We are looking for a way forward — a way in which the students of Notre Dame can have their sports field and we, the school’s neighbours, can retain our sanity.

Ideas for next steps include:

• a petition
• a media campaign
• lawn signs
• protests
• more letter writing – to MPs, MLAs, the mayor, councillors …

If anyone has suggestions and/or would like to volunteer for any of these, or other projects, or just to keep up to date on developments — please get in touch at notredameneighbours@gmail.com