At the April 8th city council meeting this past Monday, Councillor Nadine Nakagawa brought forward a motion that hopes to ensure that ground-level retail spaces give priority to active retail and community supporting businesses such as non-profits. With a recent proliferation of healthcare businesses starting up in New Westminster, many are questioning if we really need another dentist office to add to the over 30 already in place.

She commented at the council meeting that whenever a new ground level business is announced in New Westminster, you can almost guarantee it will be a dentist office.  Not that she has anything against dentists, she hastens to add. 

"I think the problem is with the building of the units," Nakagawa stated. It can be expensive for small businesses to move into these new units when they are "an empty shell". This "dictates what kind of business can go into that space. If you are a small business making homemade kombucha, you can't invest $300,000 to outfit a space." Both the 12th Street retail strip and East Columbia Street were named by Councillor Tasha Henderson as areas facing this problem.

"The current model just isn't working," she commented. "With transit-oriented development that coming our way there, there are lots of opportunities for redevelopment across the city. I think we really need to get this right."

While Councillor Daniel Fontaine made it clear he was not opposed to the motion, he did state that he felt more retail is needed to balance the proliferation of non-profits in the downtown area. When it came time for a vote, the only vote against the motion to ensure that ground-level retail spaces are prioritized by new developments was Councillor Paul Minhas. He stated, "there isn't enough restaurants and other for-profit organizations in downtown, so I actually won't be supporting this."

The motion was passed with a 5-1 vote.  Mayor Johnstone commented that while to motion isn't specific in the solutions to this situation, "it will tell us what policies will fix it and whether creating incentives or changes in zoning can ensure the right mix in these developments."