1 page discussion, due within 6 hours.

LBST 311 - Green City Action Plan

Handout – Molson Coors Brewery Closure

In 2016 Molson Coors sold its brewery and the land it occupied in Vancouver on the south side of False Creek. The brewery was one of the last major industries in the area. Molson had operated the brewery since 1958 and had become a landmark at the foot of Burrard Bridge is being closed and will move to another location in B.C.

Zoning and Development

Although the buyer of the land was not immediately revealed, discussion of what would happen to the land took place almost as soon as the sale was announced. The site is zoned as industrial and the City of Vancouver maintained it would remain so.

“It is clear that it is in the City of Vancouver’s regional context statement as industrial land,” said Kent Munro, the city’s assistant director of planning. “We’ve had people asking about the site and its potential, but we say it is very important industrial land in the city after years of eroding it.”

Munro said the city doesn’t view the area as being appropriate for more condos.

“Any intensification of industrial or employment uses would be bang on and we would be supportive of it,” he said. “I think it is the city’s intent to keep it as employment-generating land use down there in a great location, close to where people live and close to the city centre.”1

It was eventually revealed that the purchaser was Concord Pacific, a large development firm. Concord Pacific Developments issued a statement: "Concord Pacific has finalized the purchase of the Molson Coors Vancouver Burrard location. Concord has agreed to lease back the existing property for Molson to continue brewery operations while a new brewery is being constructed.

"In the meantime, Concord plans to work with the approving authorities and the public to create a new community. The vision is to include a mixed-use residential neighbourhood with a knowledge-based work centre, to attract both local and international tech firms. The reimagined Molson lands will become a vibrant addition to Vancouver."2

There has been debate already about what should be done with the land. One editorial in the Globe and Mail argued that keeping the site as industrial zoning was imperative.

1 Jeff Lee, “End of an Era for Iconic Molson Brewery on Vancouver’s False Creek” Vancouver Sun November, 6 2015.

2 Kerry Gold, “Concord Pacific Buys Molson Coors Brewery for Planned Redevelopment” Globe and Mail May 16, 2018.

"This is a bit of a watershed moment for the city and the region," said Tom Hutton, a University of British Columbia professor of urban and regional planning. "This could be a successful site for cultural and technical industries. I don't think this is a site for a housing project." Mr. Hutton said Seattle and San Francisco, the two most dynamic urban economies on the West Coast, have been successful because they didn't give up all of their inner-city land to high-end condo development." They take industrial land use very seriously," Mr. Hutton said. Vancouver could do what those cities have done with South Lake Union in Seattle and the South of Market in San Francisco to carve out space for tech industries. "If the city is serious, the Molson lands, along with False Creek Flats, could be successful places for tech and creative industries," he said. The site is currently zoned for heavy and light industrial uses, with accessory uses.3

An editorial in Vancouver Magazine argued the exact opposite

I’m sympathetic to the idea that we need to find ways to create good, high-paying jobs in this city. But I’m not sure we do that by clinging to the economic formulas of the past. Yes, industrial land is valuable, and yes, we need to protect it—but not everywhere, and not always. Some people may want to wind the clock back to before the Expo lands were re-zoned and redeveloped, before the influx of foreign capital turned the grubby and gritty post-industrial northern shore of False Creek into an urban mecca. But were things really better back then, when we had all that extra vacant industrial land kicking around? And would the citizens of the future really be better served by us sitting on the Molson lands and preventing them from being developed in the name of preserving things as they were? I doubt it.4

Workers While over 1000 temporary jobs were created by the building of the new brewery in Chilliwack B.C. the completed brewery will only employ approximately 100 workers.

At the time of its closure the brewery renovation increased the plant’s production capacity by more than 40 per cent to 2.1 million hectolitres a year, or about 600 million bottles. It also raised the employment of the plant to 214, along with a sales staff of 44.

For this week we are going to pretend the land has not been purchased and we can design any land use we want for the site:

Questions:

1. What do you think could replace the brewery that would complement both contemporary labour

and environmental concerns? Come up with a land use plan that would work well within the

themes of this course. You can simply explain with words or do up a map and legend with a

short description.

2. Share the plan with your fellow students in discussion. This could be done with a link if you do a

map.

Below are links to resources and a map of the area. Other photos and maps can be found by searching

Molson Brewery Vancouver Land Map

RESOURCES

3 Frances Bula, “Vancouver should fight to retain Molson Coors brewery site: expert” Vancouver Sun April 12, 2016 Updated May 16, 2018. 4 Max Fawcett, “Why the Molson Lands Don’t Need Saving” Vancouver Magazine April 13, 2016

Greenest City Action Plan

https://vancouver.ca/green-vancouver/greenest-city-action-plan.aspx

Transportation 2040

https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/transportation-2040.aspx

Healthy City Strategy

https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/healthy-city-strategy.aspx

Picture of the site of the old Molson Brewery – yellow outline is the whole site